


The Forest King

by saintmichael



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Pagan Gods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22184641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintmichael/pseuds/saintmichael
Summary: Sam and Dean Winchester have killed one of Michael's white deer, and he demands one of their lives in payment. Instead, they send Adam. Michael is none too pleased.Edit: Completely rewritten as of 20/09/20,
Relationships: Michael/Adam Milligan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 143





	1. Chapter 1

Michael-of-the-Forests stalks through the woods, seething with a cold fury. They killed his deer. His white deer. They are called the Winchester brothers. Michael has demanded one of their lives be paid in return. Tonight, one of them will be waiting as sacrifice for him. And he will devour them.

The white deer of the forest are sacred, pure. All humans know not to touch them. Do these brothers think they are above the law? Michael will not tolerate disrespect from mere mortals. He does not often demand sacrifices, but he is eager for this one.

The village they are from is called Lawrence. Michael is coming close to it now. There is a clearing, not too deep into the forest, where he can sense a human’s presence. That must be the sacrifice. He approaches, his form billowing out into incorporeality as he surveys his prey. The young man is lying there naked, bound, and covered in symbols marking him as Michael’s sacrifice. But it is not one of the Winchester brothers. It is someone else.

Michael creeps his consciousness closer, observing the human. He is no criminal. His soul is pure, nearly blinding Michael as he looks upon it. Michael did not request a virgin sacrifice, not tonight. The young man is shaking, crying. He’s vulnerable. If he is being offered to Michael, Michael will eat him. A soul as pure as his will be a treat.

But Michael has not come to treat himself. He seeks justice. Perhaps an interrogation is in order, before dinner, to determine why the correct sacrifice was not sent. He cannot forgive the village if the criminals aren’t punished.

He condenses himself down into a more physical form. He’ll probably get a better response if he wears a human shape. He stretches out solid arms and legs and flexes experimentally. Such an odd shape. Obviously it has its uses, but Michael prefers the agility of being on all fours. The size is difficult – humans are smaller than bears, but larger than rabbits. Michael ends up copying the human’s size, increased marginally for the sake of dominance.

He walks into the clearing. It’s quiet here – all the animals have fled with the approach of the Lord-of-the-Forests. So, when he steps on some twigs, the snapping sound easily echoes through the clearing. The human looks up and around, startled enough to stop crying. “Hello?” he calls out shakily.

Michael draws near him. “ **Who are you?** ” he asks bluntly. The young man whips his head in Michael’s direction, alarmed. He gives Michael a quick look up and down, trying to make him out in the dark.

“Hey – uhh,” the human says. “It’s Adam, but you really got to get out of here. The Forest King’s coming.”

Michael is unfamiliar with this creature the human refers to. He cocks his head. “ **The Forest King?** ” he asks, quietly, dangerously. If there is a forestfolk attempting to steal his territory, there will be hell to pay.

“He’s – you know. The Forest King. Um,” the human laughs nervously. “Are you from out of town?”

“ **Yes,** ” says Michael. He kneels down and inspects the rope binding the human. Unoiled, and too tight. It looks painful. Adam jerks away at his touch.

“Please don’t untie me,” he says. “It’s part of the ritual. I think.”

“ **I have no intention of untying you,** ” Michael tells him. He calls forth the roots from the nearby trees to spring from the ground and wrap around the human’s body, holding him in place. Such a wriggly sacrifice. Adam makes a cry of surprise and flails around a bit, but Michael’s roots hold firm.

“You gotta go,” Adam says. “I think he’s coming. What if he eats you too?”

That would be sloppy. And impressive. Michael is a god. This usurper would have to be extremely powerful to consume Michael in his own territory.

“ **I am not concerned.** ” The young man certainly looks very earnest. Michael is touched. “ **Why are you being sacrificed?** ”

“Um,” Adam says. “My half-brothers poached one of the sacred deer. The Forest King was mad and demanded one of their lives as a sacrifice.” A bitterness stains his tone. “He asked for a ‘Son of Winchester’, though, so the village decided I count as well. They sent me.”

This surely describes Michael’s sacrifice. He is puzzled.

“ **I am no King,** ” Michael says. “ **I am Michael-of-the-Forests.** ”

Adam stares at him. “What?”

Michael finally realises that perhaps he may have made himself look a little too human, and Adam has confused him as a mortal. He is not fond of theatrics, but for the human’s sake, he allows the deer’s antlers to spring forth from his head and his divine gaze to burn out his eyes. Adam yelps and strains uselessly against the roots.

“ **So, you are my sacrifice after all. But I asked for the lives of one of the criminals that murdered my deer. Not an innocent that happens to be related to them. This will not pay the debt. This is not justice.** ” Michael is fuming.

“You’re the Forest King?” Adam whispers, horrified. “But… no, please. Please accept me as sacrifice. The village thought -”

“ **Clearly, the village thought they could avoid paying their debt to me on a technicality. But this will not suffice. There is no loophole. The criminals must pay for their crime with one of their own souls. This is the law of the forest.** ”

Adam is crying again. “But –“ His body and soul are trembling. Such a beautiful soul. Michael strokes his hair to soothe him.

“ **This is not your battle, Adam. Tonight I will devour you whole and you will rest in my essence forever. Do not worry over the fate of those who doomed you.** ”

“You’re going to eat me anyway?” Adam is despondent.

“ **Of course,** ” Michael assures him. “ **You have been given to me.** ” He traces the symbols on Adam’s skin marking him as Michael’s. “ **Your soul is pure. It would be foolish of me to let you go.** ”

“But that’s not fair,” Adam argues. He’s brave for someone so terrified. It does well to further enamour Michael.

“ **The law of the forest decides what is fair, not one tiny human,** ” Michael says. “ **I will be merciful yet. I will give your village another seven days to pay the price I have requested, not that which they wish to pay.** ” Perhaps the Messenger had not correctly relayed Michael’s instructions, after all. He shouldn’t be hasty to deal out punishments just yet.

Adam relaxes slightly at that. Michael examines him curiously. Why care so much about those that abandoned him here to pay for someone else’s crime?

Michael instructs the roots to withdraw from the human’s body and picks him up. His naked body is shivering in the harsh cold of the midnight forest, so Michael recalls the fur of the beast back to his form and presses the sacrifice snugly upon his chest.

He would feast upon Adam’s life in the Heartwood, he decides. A soul this pure should be fed upon with dignity. “ **Good night,** ” he murmurs, and with a thumb held against the human’s forehead, sends him swiftly to sleep. He stares in the direction of the village that has tried to defy him, his fury not yet abated, before turning and striding his way through the forest, back home to the Heartwood.


	2. Chapter 2

Michael watches the sleeping human. His stomach rises and lowers with the expansion and retraction of his diaphragm. Michael places a hand on his stomach, to feel the gentle movements, and Adam mumbles incoherently in his sleep.

He’s lying on a bed of flowers that Michael grew for him in his Sanctum, his private quarters in his Palace. Michael brought him here to eat, but somehow has ended up sitting and watching him sleep all night. It’s strange. A calm feeling overcomes him as he observes the young man. He doesn’t think he’s felt like this in a long time.

Perhaps Michael won’t eat him.

He rubs a thumb across the human’s chapped lips to draw one last sleepy murmur from the mortal before withdrawing from the Sanctum to speak to his advisors. He sits in Court and permits Gabriel and Raphael to approach.

“ _My lord, welcome back,_ ” Raphael says, although Michael has been back for hours. “ _How went the sacrifice?_ ”

“ **Poorly,** ” says Michael. Raphael is uncaring, but Gabriel flinches ever so slightly. Michael flicks his eyes over to the Messenger. “ **I do wonder if there was a miscommunication?** ”

“ _A miscommunication?_ ” Gabriel asks. To his credit, his voice is steady and confident.

“ **They sent me a young man named Adam as tribute,** ” Michael explains. “ **He is a son of Winchester, and claimed that the village thought that he thus could be used to pay the debt. I wanted the Sons that killed my deer, however. Was that not made clear?** ”

“ _I did make that clear, my lord,_ ” says Gabriel, frowning. “ _Adam Milligan?_ ”

Michael casts an eye back to the sleeping human, looking deeper into his soul at the name inscribed there. “ **Yes. You know him?** ”

“ _He’s the witch’s son,_ ” Gabriel says. Ah. Witches are friends of the forests. Michael is a little glad he didn’t rush to eat him. “ _I don’t know what the humans were thinking, Michael. I told them, Sam or Dean._ ” He hesitates. “ _You destroyed the village?_ ”

“ **No,** ” says Michael. Raphael and Gabriel both raise their eyebrows. Michael is not known for being magnanimous. “ **I will give them a week further to send the sacrifice I asked for. Gabriel, do let them know there will be no more chances.** ”

“ _Yes, my lord,_ ” says Gabriel, seeming nervous. Michael moves to dismiss him, but Gabriel asks quickly, “ _You have killed the first sacrifice, my lord?_ ”

“ **No,** ” Michael admits. “ **I will be keeping him here.** ” To what end, he is not yet sure. Gabriel nods and departs, and Michael turns his attention to Raphael.

“ **Any urgent issues, Chancellor?** ”

“ _A bushfire in the forest adjacent Ashdale, Michael._ ” He knows this. “ _I have some people keeping an eye on it, I believe it’s petering out now. That satyr, Crowley, went out and caused trouble again last night. That’s all that I would describe as ‘urgent’._ ”

Trouble. That was awfully vague for the dryad. “ **What measures did you take against Crowley? What did he do?** ”

“ _He is trying to lure mortals into contracts again,_ ” says Raphael, disgusted. “ _He was unsuccessful this night, so I could hardly punish him._ ”

“ **Indeed?** ” Michael asks drily. “ **Report to me later with the details. It sounds like you have everything handled for the moment. Now, I go to attend to my human. Do make sure I’m not disturbed.** ”

“ _The sacrifice? You’re actually keeping it?_ ”

Michael rises from his throne and stares down blankly at his most senior advisor. Raphael obediently turns her gaze downward at the challenge, although he can feel the annoyance radiating off her.

He returns to the Sanctum. Sunlight is now streaming through the canopy of thickly-clustered trees that form the walls of his private chamber, a few rays of light hitting Adam’s face. Michael moves to block the human from daylight, from waking for a few more minutes, to allow him some extra moments of rest. Michael is large now, nearly three times Adam’s size; when he sits and pulls Adam into his lap, the human is like a doll in his arms.

Eventually Adam stirs. He shivers, though Michael’s Sanctum is perfectly warm, and looks around in dazed confusion before staring up at Michael’s face. He tries to move, but he is still bound tight by the rope.

“Michael-of-the-Forests?” he says uncertainly.

Michael smiles. “ **Good morning, Adam Milligan.** ” Adam is fidgeting, trying to slip out of the ropes. It is very distracting to Michael’s many eyes.

“Did you eat me?” Adam is staring straight into Michael’s eyes, with a piercing blue gaze that is unusual for a human. “Am I dead?”

“ **No,** ” says Michael. Adam seems like he doesn’t know what to think. “ **I detest going back on my word, but I think I will not consume you.** ”

‘You won’t?”

Michael holds the human’s hands still in an attempt to stop the wriggling. “ **It seems like a waste,** ” he says, unsure if that’s really the reason. “ **You do have a lovely soul, Adam.** ”

“Right,” Adam mutters in disbelief.

Michael decides to take the human to the bath room. The bath, a marble tub set into the ground, is designed to take Michael at his largest, and is thus more like a large pool for someone of Adam’s size. Michael drains the bath of the holy oils it usually contains and fills it instead with warm water, far less lethal to a mortal.

He removes the rope bindings from Adam, frowning at the red markings they have left on his skin. “ **Who tied you up like this?** ” he wonders. “ **I’ve never seen such a poorly-bound sacrifice.** ”

“No one in the village had ever done a ritual binding before, so they just kind of guessed,” Adam tells him. “Mom had the symbols and everything written down in some old book, but once she realised they were sending me out, she stopped helping.”

“ **The village witch,** ” says Michael, thinking. “ **That makes sense. I suppose I don’t demand sacrifices very frequently.** ” His father had demanded sacrifices every other week, but that had been to sate his appetite more than anything else. Michael only uses them punitively.

Speaking of the symbols, they would probably wash off when Adam gets in the water. Michael is disappointed. Adam looks good covered in his symbols.

Adam climbs into the bath, letting out a happy little sigh as his skin comes in contact with the warm water, and sinks into the water. Michael worries a little when Adam becomes completely submerged and then continues to sink. Does Adam not know how to swim? Surely not. Lawrence is a lakeside town. Eventually, Adam reaches the bottom and bounces off the floor of the tub with a light tap of his feet. He returns to the top and holds onto the side of the tub, pushing his soaked fringe back out of his face.

“What the hell? It looked shallower than that!” he says, sounding angry but not feeling angry. Michael tilts his head in consideration.

“ **This is my bath,** ” he says. “ **Did you expect it to be small?** ”

Adam pauses and examines Michael thoughtfully. “I guess not,” he says reluctantly.

Michael grows and places a floor of woven branches and vines in the tub, shallow enough for Adam to stand on comfortably. He sits and watches his human wash himself in the tub with a cloth before fooling around in the water for a while.

When Adam gets out, he shyly asks Michael for clothes. Michael doesn’t have any clothes. Adam is disappointed, but Michael can’t see why. He admires the sight of water dripping off Adam’s skin.

He places Adam back in the Sanctum and takes the form of a beast to hunt some food for his human. The animals of the Heartwood flee from his path in absolute terror, but none can escape the Lord-of-the-Forests on the prowl. With the speed and precision of a god, Michael corners and pins down a fat boar. He rips out its throat and its heart and consumes its life force, but saves the flesh for Adam to eat. He shrugs the carcass onto his back and searches for herbs and fruits that are probably palatable to a human. He could grow such things himself in an instant, but it would be like eating pure magic. His new human would in no way be adapted enough to each such things on his first day in the Heartwood.

He returns to the Sanctum and finds Adam sitting there, frowning into the distance. He deposits the bounty he’s gathered onto the floor and Adam jumps, startled, before backing away hurriedly from Michael.

“ **I’ve brought you some food,** ” Michael says, his words coming out as a growl. “ **What’s wrong?** ”

Adam squints at him. “Michael-of-the-Forests? Oh.” He thumbs his mouth nervously, glancing at the feast Michael has provided. “Nothing’s wrong. Um, thanks.”

Michael sits and waits for Adam to enjoy his meal. Adam picks at the herbs and fruits, chewing on the leaves with interest and becoming overwhelmed by the richness of the fruits, but he avoids the boar Michael hunted, Michael notes with displeasure.

“ **You don’t like meat?** ” Michael asks. He is aware some humans possess this peculiarity, despite being an omnivorous species.

Adam clasps his hands together, looking uncomfortable. “No, I – it’s just that, uh, humans get sick when they eat raw pork.” He is fearful of Michael.

“ **You will not get sick here,** ” Michael promises. “ **I will not let you.** ”

“Oh,” says Adam, biting his lip. “Um – I don’t have a knife,” he adds, looking at the dead boar hesitantly.

A knife? Michael reaches out with a paw and inspects Adam’s hands. It’s true that his claws are clipped very short. How inconvenient that must be. He takes the carcass and examines it. Michael had already ripped it open with his teeth when he obtained the beast’s heart, but he has a strange desire to pamper his new human, so he obligingly cuts into the flesh and removes some decent chunks of meat for him.

“Thanks,” Adam says. He stares at the meat in his hands, blood dripping down his naked skin. With an oddly grim expression, he finally bites into it. Even as he swallows it and eats more, his expression remains sour. Michael is worried.

“ **Does it not taste good?** ” Michael wonders out loud. “ **You don’t have to eat it if it’s bad.** ” He inspects the flesh once more. It seems like it should be fine.

“I – uh, I’m just not used to eating raw meat, I think. Thank you for the gift, Michael-of-the-Forests,” Adam says quickly. Michael beams and nods.

Adam is sated after eating less than a third of the flesh that Michael cut out for him. Not wanting the boar to go to waste, Michael takes it out and finds a subject to pass it on to, to share with his fellows. He returns to the Sanctum and finds Adam awkwardly cleaning boar blood off himself with leaves. He pokes Adam’s stomach. “ **You are full?** ”

Adam laughs hollowly. “You’re not uh, not just trying to fatten me up, right?”

“ **You are skinny,** ” Michael notes, but he does not think that is what Adam means. “ **Humans like to eat. I am trying to make you happy.** ”

“Why?”

Michael is not expecting such a direct question, and it sends him reeling. Why indeed?

“ **Because you are my property,** ” Michael says slowly, testing how truthful the words feel on his tongue. “ **My pet. So, I should make you comfortable.** ” He’s not all too sure that’s the reason, but he can’t think of any other.

Adam is tense, his shoulders and back hunched up defensively. “You could always let me go,” he suggests.

Michael must laugh at that. “ **Now why would I do that?** ”

Adam pulls his legs up to his chest, and rests his arms on his knees, staring up at Michael petulantly. Michael kisses him on the temple. “ **You will be happy here. I will make sure of it,** ” he whispers, his furred snout nuzzling against Adam’s cheek, and he leaves.


	3. Chapter 3

Raphael is rattling off details about some gnome party gone wrong as Michael gazes off in the distance, pretending to listen. It’s irresponsible, but the lord’s mind is ultimately taken up by thoughts of Adam. Two nights and one day has Michael been in possession of his soul, and yet he fails to grasp his own intentions on the matter. It’s infuriating.

“ _My lord?_ ” says Raphael, haltingly. Michael turns his attention back to the dryad. She is evidently concerned by his uncharacteristic absentmindedness.

“ **Chancellor,** ” Michael says heavily. “ **I would have private counsel with you and the Messenger.** ”

“ _Now, my lord?_ ” she asks. It is certainly odd to interrupt proceedings so out-of-turn like this, but Michael, as single-minded as he is, cannot focus on the governing issues currently being addressed. He nods, somewhat apologetically, and she rushes off to find Gabriel, who has doubtless wandered off somewhere strange again.

They reconvene in Michael’s office, situated in an upper level of the Palace with a pleasant view of the Heartwood. Michael is stiff and wooden, his barky skin hardening up into knots and thorns.

“ **I am distracted, as of late,** ” he declares. “ **I’m sure you have noticed. The human I have taken in occupies my every waking thought. I have a kingdom of millions to rule and yet my main concern is how to care for a mortal I have known for barely a day. It is unbecoming of a Lord.** ” Only to these two, who were advisors even in his Father’s rule, is Michael able to express upset like this.

Gabriel leans in curiously. “ _What kind of concern is this, Michael? Does he make unreasonable demands of the lord who very generously decided to take him in?_ ” Gabriel’s tone is serious, but his eyes are smiling.

“ **No. He is fearful and obedient.** ” Michael pauses. “ **Perhaps too fearful. I would have him become close with me. He has a beautiful soul.** ”

“ _You want to become friends, Michael?_ ” says Gabriel. It sounds like a test.

“ **No,** ” says Michael. Friends doesn’t seem quite right.

Gabriel is now leant all the way forward. “ _My lord, I think you have a crush._ ” Raphael draws a hand up to her face, covering her expression.

“ **A crush,** ” Michael repeats, not familiar with the expression. He didn’t crush Adam. He would have noticed if the human had been flattened. Gabriel finally drops the serious façade and grins.

“ _Raphael will tell you,_ ” he says, turning to the dryad. “ _Unless you disagree?_ ”

Raphael removes the hand and fixes Michael with a stern gaze. “ _Michael, I believe Gabriel is suggesting you have become infatuated. Is that the case?_ ”

Michael falls silent. Infatuation? He doesn’t have any experience with it. It’s a reasonable explanation for his sudden obsession, however. He worries that the advisors are correct.

Michael dismisses the pair and sits alone in his office, thinking. If this is genuinely passion that he’s feeling, maybe he needs to capitalise on this rare occasion. His Father had taken a consort from the villages every other month; Michael has not taken ever a one. He has never felt the desire.

But perhaps Michael simply doesn’t know what desire feels like.

To take Adam as his consort would be a simple matter, he thinks; Adam’s soul already belongs to him, so all he needs is the human’s consent to enter into courtship with one another. Then they could be bound together for eternity, a ritual done for Adam to become Fey and share in Michael’s divinity. Michael realises he’s excited at the prospect. His heart is dancing.

What a strange feeling. Do mortals feel like this every day? He wonders.

He breezes into the Sanctum as a cool mist before settling back down into a humanoid shape. “ **Adam,** ” he greets with a smile. The human is sitting in a corner, his back against a tree and his arms wrapped around himself. He glances up at Michael and Michael is pleased to see he is already less nervous around the god.

“Hello, Michael-of-the-Forests.”

“ **Just Michael will do,** ” Michael tells him gently. It would not be acceptable for his consort to refer to him by his title all the time. This will help further their relationship, he thinks. He comes to Adam and sits, pulling Adam into his lap.

“Uh,” says Adam.

Michael is not entirely sure how one goes about interacting with a prospective consort. While he has naturally heard of flirting, he has never heard it described how one actually does it.

Best to be direct, he supposes.

“ **You are very beautiful today,** ” he compliments.

“Uh,” says Adam, again. “Are you feeling alright, um, Michael?”

“ **Yes,** ” says Michael. “ **It has recently been brought to my attention that I am infatuated with you.** ” Adam gapes. Possibly too direct, he thinks. “ **Your soul is one of the most pure I’ve ever seen,** ” he continues. “ **You would make a lovely consort.** ”

Adam gazes dumbly at him. This isn’t going too well. Michael isn’t sure how to fix it.

“ **You would become my Fey prince. The beneficiary of my love and divinity.** ” Michael kisses his brow. “ **Do you accept?** ”

“Accept?” Adam is baffled. “You’re offering this? Why?”

“ **I have feelings for you I am sure I have not had for anyone else. I would like to exploit this opportunity,** ” Michael explains. “ **I would truly treasure having a consort by my side.** ”

“But – but,” Adam says, struggling to find words. “Why do you need me to agree to it? Don’t you already own me?”

“ **Yes,** ” Michael says. “ **However, even with your soul in my possession it wouldn’t be right to bind with it without your consent. It’s illegal.** ”

Adam’s brow lifts. “The law of the forest, huh?”

“ **It’s the law of the gods,** ” Michael corrects. “ **I cannot force a mortal into divinity, no matter what. You have the right to choose.** ”

“For you to fuck me, I have to be a god?”

“ **No,** ” Michael says, puzzled. “ **You will become Fey, subservient to me. A demigod, I suppose. And it is consequential, not conditional.** ”

“Huh. You must have one magic dick, huh?” Adam scoffs and looks away, folding his arms across his chest. “If I do this, will you let my village go?”

“ **Hmm?** ” Michael says.

“If I agree to become your consort,” Adam says slowly, “Will you release Lawrence from their obligations in return?”

Michael frowns. “ **If you are not willing to do this unconditionally, then you are not willing. Anything other would be coercion.** ”

“Then I’m not willing, I guess,” says Adam, still facing away. Michael is… sad.

“ **I understand.** ”

“Seriously? You’re not even going to try to negotiate?”

“ **It is the negotiation itself that would be abhorrent,** ” Michael says. This topic must be difficult for a mortal to understand, he thinks. He strokes Adam’s hair, but he flinches away from Michael’s touch, glaring daggers at him. “ **You have plenty of time to fall in love with me,** ” he says calmly. “ **We won’t rush.** ”

“You’re delusional,” says Adam, and now Michael is the one looking away.

“ **I suppose I am,** ” Michael says, his chest constricting.


	4. Chapter 4

Michael holds Court. He tries to do so at least once a day, so he can listen to the petitions of the forestfolk and solve their problems and disputes.

He cannot hold Court without the presences of his advisors, however. And the Messenger is missing.

Michael is reclined in his throne built of animal and human bones, leaning on one elbow, looking every inch the bored lord. He holds eye contact with Raphael, confident that she knows exactly how furious he is right now despite appearances. She is frantically calling out to Gabriel through every divine and magical channel they have available to them, with no response.

After fifteen minutes of this tardiness, Michael is irate. “ **Raphael,** ” he says sternly. “ **Gabriel is to be punished. I must not have my time wasted like this.** ”

“ _No, no, my lord,_ ” Raphael begs, on the edge of desperation. “ _He will be come soon. He is just far away, I think._ ” Raphael and Gabriel are very close, Michael knows; but he cannot forgive one servant on another’s behalf.

He is in the midst of planning an elaborate labyrinth for Gabriel to suffer through when Raphael’s eyes light up and she turns away from the throne. Michael dismisses his plans with a sigh when he senses Gabriel flying into the Heartwood on sparrow’s wings a minute later. Just a talking-to will suffice, he supposes.

The shapeshifter bounds into Court in the guise of a jackalope, parking himself besides Raphael, flustered and jittering. Raphael shoots upsets glances to her partner while Michael considers him silently.

“ **Approach, Messenger,** ” he says eventually. Gabriel extends his form out into the shape of a deer and trots up to Michael with obvious trepidation. Michael reaches for his head and pulls it into his own lap.

“ **I summoned Court twenty minutes prior. You are late. Why?** ” he whispers.

Gabriel blinks rapidly. A nervous tic. It would be sweet if Michael weren’t so mad. “ _My lord, I was out – out of the forest. Out of range. I didn’t hear the summons,_ ” he explains hurriedly.

“ **Why,”** Michael repeats.

“ _I had some business in a human village, and then I had to go further out._ ”

“ **What business.** ”

Gabriel’s mouth opens and closes a few times, resembling a fish. He doesn’t answer, just trembles in Michael’s lap. Michael rubs him behind the ear, frustration reluctantly easing up. The shapeshifter is talented at making himself look pitiable.

“ **We will discuss this later,** ” Michael warns. The courtiers and petitioners are watching them with interest, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Michael won’t have it.

Gabriel comes with him to his office after Court, but the Messenger is still tight-lipped about where he was and what he was doing.

“ **I hold you in high esteem, Messenger, but I can only be so lenient,** ” Michael tells him. Gabriel looks rightfully ashamed but remains silent. Michael manages to not explode and instead speaks calmly. “ **I have a task for you.** ”

Gabriel looks up hopefully. “ _Yes, my lord?_ ”

“ **My human – Adam. He’s uncomfortable in his own skin. It won’t be an issue when he’s Fey, but until then, I should provide for him. I want him to be happy.** ” Michael steeples his fingers together and stares expectantly at Gabriel.

“ _Uh,_ ” Gabriel says, rubbing his head like he’s figuring out a complicated equation. “ _You’re asking me to get him some clothes?_ ”

“ **Yes,** ” says Michael. Was that not clear?

“ _That’s – okay._ ” He perks up all of a sudden. “ _I can get his old ones from his old home. In the village._ ”

Michael wonders why he has become so cheery. “ **I don’t care where you get them from. Just get them.** ”

His advisor bows graciously. “ _As you wish, my lord. I will go at once._ ” He trots off.

Michael feels faintly unsettled.

He finds Adam wandering the halls immediately outside the Sanctum, looking lost. He approaches the mortal with a smile on his face, and Adam backs up, looking guilty.

“ **Looking for something?** ” Michael asks.

Adam shakes his head. “Uh, just the bathroom. I thought I knew where it was, but I keep walking in a circle, I think.”

“ **You should not use the bath room without supervision,** ” Michael advises. “ **It is normally filled with holy oil, not water.** ”

“Sorry,” says Adam, not sounding particularly penitent. His anger from yesterday lingers, Michael suspects. He inspects Adam’s body. It is not encumberingly dirty.

“ **I will show you around the Palace,** ” Michael decides. “ **It is your home now. You should know the way.** ”

“Great.”

“ **As you are human, though,** ” Michael informs him, “ **It may be best to not wander too much. Some of the forestfolk here may leap at the opportunity to prey on a mortal. Stay in the Palace, at least.** ”

“Got it,” Adam mutters.

He doesn’t seem particularly enthused as Michael takes him on a tour of the Palace, but he is paying attention and keenly taking mental notes. He seems to have a sharp mind. Michael admires him for it; his Father often criticised Michael for being dense and unthinking.

There are three floors of the Palace; Michael prefers the ground floor, naturally, but flying and climbing folk use the upper floors. Though the Sanctum and Court are made of living, moving trees and plants, the majority of the Palace is built of stone and ancient petrified wood. There are many staircases; while Michael just glides over them, Adam had to physically climb up or down each one, and it takes far longer. Michael offers to carry him, which earns him a glare and “No. I’m good. Thanks,” in an annoyed tone.

They stop in at Raphael’s office, in a central room on the first floor. She’s clearly unimpressed when she meets the human, but, Michael is glad to see, treats him with the proper amount of respect accorded to the lord’s future consort.

He shows him Gabriel’s office as well, on the second floor; Gabriel isn’t there, of course. “ **Did you meet Gabriel?** ” Michael asks Adam. “ **In your village.** ”

“Uh,” says Adam.

“ **He’s my Messenger,** ” Michael clarifies. “ **He would have delivered the news about the sacrifice.** ”

“The shapeshifter dude? The Trickster?” Michael hasn’t heard this title for Gabriel before, but it suits. He nods. “I didn’t talk to him, no.”

“ **He speaks to humans often,** ” Michael says, as they continue down the hall. “ **So hopefully you two get along well.** ”

“Right.”

When they end up back on the ground floor, Michael shows Adam where the bath room is, near the Sanctum.

“Oh,” says Adam, embarrassed. “I think I walked past it a few times.” He tries to enter, but Michael holds him back. He looks around at Michael questioningly.

“ **I will build you a pool to bathe in, at your leisure,** ” Michael tells him. Adam is incredulous, but Michael takes him back into his private quarters and constructs in a far corner a bathing pool with a waterfall feeding into it. Adam swallows as Michael orders the earth to change its form at his will. Michael waves him into the pool; Adam steps in gingerly.

“It’s warm,” he says, in surprise. Michael considers him.

“ **Would you prefer it cool?** ” he wonders. “ **I thought you would like to bathe in warm water.** ”

“It’s fine,” says Adam. “Just strange.” He steps under the water pouring from the tiny cliff and steps out again, drenched. “Where is the water coming from?”

Michael looks at the waterfall. “ **It comes from the cliff, into the pool,** ” he tells Adam. Is it not obvious?

“But where is it coming from to get to the cliff?”

It is coming from nowhere, and everywhere. Michael is unsure how to explain it. “ **It comes from the forest,** ” he says, although that is not quite accurate. Adam peers at him and for the first time, grins at Michael.

“It’s magic,” he says. “Magic water.”

“ **It is safe,** ” Michael says, frowning. Adam shakes his head and gets back in the pool, his smile fading far too quickly.

Michael watches him bathe. It is quite enjoyable.


	5. Chapter 5

Michael is investigating a bushfire in the forest outside a human village, Greenvale. The local forestfolk asked for him to come, fearing arson; Michael was fairly sure it was natural just from looking at it, but came in person to assuage their fears.

It was natural.

As Michael is explaining this to the terrified dwarf that seems to be in charge of the area, he feels someone pushing at the edge of the Heartwood, from within. Strange. He splits his mind in two, and goes to go take a look while chatting with the Greenvale locals. His heart sinks when he realises it’s Adam, wandering the edges of the Heartwood, clearly seeking a way out. He instructs nearby vines and branches to reach out and wrap around Adam as gently as possible, holding him in place.

He comes back to where he is supposed to be and abruptly wraps up the conversation. The dwarf is relieved, and thanks him for attending; but Michael is only half-listening. He rushes to the Heartwood and approaches Adam, who is struggling against the branches in tears.

“ **Adam, I told you to stay in the Palace,** ” Michael reminds him. “ **You may not leave the Heartwood.** ”

“Please let me go. Please,” Adam begs desperately. “I have to get home.”

“ **Your home is here.** ” Ignoring further protests, Michael retrieves Adam from the living restraints and carries him back to the Palace. Adam is placed in the Sanctum and Michael summons up many more trees from the Earth to form a much more secure wall around the entire room.

“Michael, please, please listen to me,” Adam begs. Content that Adam won’t be able to escape, Michael turns to the crying human.

“ **Why are you running away? I am trying to make you happy here,** ” Michael says, upset that Adam is upset.

Adam shakes his head. “It’s not about me – I need to get to the village –” Michael is about to interrupt, but Adam rushes to say, “I heard your councillors talking.”

Michael’s councillors? “Gabriel and Raphael,” Adam says. “Um, they were talking in Raphael’s office but the door was open just a crack…” Michael stares at him. “They were saying, Sam and Dean left the night of the sacrifice. They went to someone called Lucifer to try and make a deal, stop anyone getting sacrificed. But Dean sold him his soul and he’s keeping Sam captive there as part of the deal, so, so,” Adam wipes his tears away, but they keep coming. “They’re not – Lawrence won’t have anyone to sacrifice. And I don’t think they know where Sam and Dean are. It’s not fair. I need to tell them. The sacrifice is tomorrow night, they won’t have time.”

“ **Adam,** ” Michael says, shortly. “ **None of this is your concern. You are no longer a member of that village.** ” Michael is furious. Lucifer-of-the-Seas? Why is he interfering in Michael’s business? And why had Raphael and Gabriel not informed him of this at once?

“But it’s not fair,” Adam argues. “The village is going to be destroyed cause my half-brothers are short-sighted idiots? It’s not right.”

“ **That village abandoned you to die for someone else’s crime,** ” Michael says. “ **I should have destroyed them that night. It is only because I was so taken by you that I did not.** ”

He leaves. Adam is continuing to bawl and yell at him, but he doesn’t listen. There are larger issues at hand. He makes sure the Sanctum is completely sealed off and disperses any forestfolk loitering in the area, warning them that it is forbidden for the time being.

He heads to his throne and broods. The courtiers in the room shuffle and whisper among themselves, waiting for him to open Court, but he does not. Raphael comes in and asks him what the problem is, but he dismisses her, angry. She will be punished for hiding important information from him.

Lucifer-of-the-Seas has taken Michael’s sacrifices as captives. He can’t fathom why any mortal would go to the Sea Serpent for help. Surely they know by now what kind of dirty, one-sided deals he makes? On the other hand, these are the same mortals that butchered Michael’s white deer just to use its blood for some stupid spell. Michael’s expectations are clearly too high.

And he still doesn’t know why Adam cares about any of this. Michael is caring for him now. All Adam should be thinking of is himself. The village, or whatever, is beneath him. It pisses Michael off. Why is Adam crying for the sake of people who tossed him aside like a sack of meat?

His chest hurts. A level of empathy Michael could not dream of reaching. It would destroy him. And yet, Adam does it so easily. Michael must protect him.

He rises, and the courtiers watch him with interest. Michael will act. He will destroy Lucifer for this. Retrieve the sacrifices, and kill one of them. The village will be safe, and Adam will no longer have reason to cry.

The onlookers are disappointed as Michael leaves Court without a word.

It’s time to kill his brother.


	6. Chapter 6

Michael strides out of the woods and onto the beach. As soon as his feet are touching sand, rather than dirt, he weakens; he is in the Lord-of-the-Seas’ territory now.

“ **Lucifer,** ” he snarls, approaching the ocean. No response. As he nears the water, each step becomes heavier and heavier. A small voice in his head is telling him it may not be intelligent to challenge Lucifer on his own territory, but Michael is far too mad to listen to it. “ **Lucifer!** ” he calls out, wading into the water. At his tallest, Michael easily keeps his head above water as he heads in deeper.

About thirty metres in, the waves rear up suddenly and begin twisting into a long, curling shape. Michael stops and waits until his brother has taken the form of a slender, shimmering man made of water, hovering above the sea.

“ **Michael,** ” says Lucifer-of-the-Seas, smiling broadly. “ **How kind of you to come visit little old me, all the way out here in the sticks.** ”

Michael is wet and angry. “ **You are interfering in my business, Lucifer. You have taken that which belongs to me.** ”

“ **Oh?** ” Lucifer raises a hand to his mouth in fake-shock. “ **Well, I certainly wasn’t aware of this. Which of your belongings have I taken, brother dearest?** ”

“ **Sam and Dean Winchester,** ” Michael snaps. “ **They owe me a debt, in the form of one of their souls. Release them from your custody immediately**.”

“ **Hmm?** ” Lucifer says, head tilting curiously. “ **Which of their souls did you lay claim to, brother?** ”

“ **I didn’t claim one yet. They were to decide amongst themselves which I would take.** ”

“ **Oh, dear,** ” Lucifer says, shaking his head. “ **Humans are so unreliable. Well, it’s true I have taken them. But it sounds like you didn’t own either of them at the time. So I’m not sure I’ve done anything illegal, my love.** ” His smile widens.

“ **Snake,** ” Michael growls. “ **Do not try your technicalities on me. Those souls rightly belong to me.** ”

“ **I’m not sure divine law agrees with you, Michael.** ”

“ **We must act by the spirit of the law, not by the letter.** ”

Lucifer spreads his arms wide in a mockingly resigned gesture. “ **I disagree, brother.** ”

Michael charges him. Lucifer laughs and disappears back into the water; a strong wave crashes into Michael and pummels him into the seafloor. He’s dragged roughly by the current for a few seconds but fights to regain enough control to stand up again. He’s in shallower water, now, but the forest, and his power, is still far too far away.

Lucifer appears in front of him again, laughing hard. He leaps forward and punches his brother’s stupid face, but Lucifer grabs the incoming arm and pulls him in, twisting his arm as he does so. “ **Did you come here to die, Michael? I always knew ruling the forests would be too hard for someone as simple as you. You’ve clearly lost your mind.** ”

Michael shoves at his face, and he breaks Michael’s arm in response, before smacking Michael’s entire body with the large fish tail that is currently the bottom half of his body. Michael goes flying over the water, and rolls up the shore, still partially submerged in the shallowest part of the water. Lucifer swims up to him, and the tail becomes two legs. He bends over Michael, keeping him held down with a razor-sharp crab’s claw poised carefully over his throat.

“ **Isn’t this a surprise,** ” he whispers. Michael is wheezing from the assault. He’s practically powerless here. What on earth was he thinking?

“ **Should I kill you, or take you prisoner?** ” Lucifer muses. “ **Hmm, you are clearly as dumb as ever. You would make a good slave. And of course, I’d hate to kill my darling brother.** ” He smiles at Michael.

“ **And you are as corrupt and empty as ever,** ” Michael tells him. “ **I may be stupid, but at least I’m not a snake.** ”

Lucifer opens his mouth for a rebuttal, but it never comes. A huge surge of crackling energy comes from the beach, hitting Lucifer square in the chest, and this time it is he that goes flying into the water. People are appearing next to Michael, and human arms are wrapping around him and hauling him out of the water and toward the forest. Witches, Michael realises, in a stunned daze. They have taken Lucifer by surprise, and it takes him long enough to respond that they have mostly gotten Michael off the beach. A red-headed witch is leading the attack, and remains to face off Lucifer as he sends an angry tidal wave onto the shore in response.

The witches dragging him off are berating him at the same time. “Never seen such a _brainless_ god in my life,” one mutters.

“Have you seen other gods before?” a younger witch asks enthusiastically.

“…No,” the first one responds.

As they enter into the trees, Michael can feel the magic of the forest seeping back into his soul. He hadn’t realised how empty he’d been without it. He is bound to the forest. He shouldn’t forget. He tries to pull the arms off him. “ **I can walk,** ” he mutters, ashamed.

“You can walk, can you?” says the witch from earlier. “Not going to walk straight back in the sea, are you?”

“ **No.** ”

She eyes him suspiciously. A blonde witch slips her arm off Michael and holds his hand instead. “He’s an honest one, Ellen. We can believe him.”

“Can we?” Ellen mutters, but the rest of them let him go as well. He staggers without their support, but the blonde witch helps him stabilise. She smiles kindly at him. Blue eyes. They look like Adam’s.

Oh.

There’s a portal up ahead. Witch magic. Michael is impressed, it is incredibly well done. The witches gather near it. “Are we leaving him here?” the younger one asks, worried.

“My cottage,” a confident voice declares. The red-headed witch leading the assault is striding up to them. She seems battered, but proud. She is an old one, of several centuries: Michael knows her. Rowena of Canisbay. “You know what fairies are like. If we leave Him-of-the-Forests here in this state, they’ll tear him apart. Unless you want the Sea-Devil running this place?”

The witches nod in agreement. A couple of them adjust the portal and start going through it. Michael inspects it before he goes through (“Oh, now he’s careful?” Ellen mutters behind his back) and finds himself in the forest at Canisbay, not far from the witch’s cottage here.

As he walks there, still supported by the blonde witch, he wonders how many of his subjects are hiding in the trees, laughing at him. He will not be respected in his own land anymore. This was a terrible lapse in judgment.

They enter Rowena’s cottage. There are even more witches gathered in the tiny building. Michael is taken aback; witches have been operating independently for the last few centuries. Michael is led to a bed in the corner, which he really doesn’t need, but he lies on it obediently. The blonde witch pats his hand and then turns, looking for someone; she spots them and quickly heads off. Michael is trying to count the number of witches in the house – it must be at least three dozen – when she returns. Adam in tow.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey,” Adam says, awkwardly meandering towards the bed. Michael stares at him.

“ **Adam, you are supposed to be safe in the Palace,** ” Michael says. He is somehow even more upset now.

Adam frowns. “Is that really the biggest issue right now?”

“ **Yes,** ” Michael snaps. Adam sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “ **How did you get out?** ” He really hadn’t pegged Adam as a runaway before today.

“The tree lady. Raphael? She came to the Sanctum saying you were acting weird and you’d just walked out the Palace, totally blanking her when she asked where you were going.” Hmm. Michael hadn’t seen Raphael on his way out. “I didn’t realise you were going to freak out like that. Raphael helped me get out of the Heartwood, and I ran to Mom straightaway and she contacted the rest of the witches…” Adam is shaking, to Michael’s surprise. “Um, just in time, I heard.”

Raphael is always disparaging humans, but she seems happy to rely on them in a pinch. It would be amusing if it hadn’t meant putting Adam in danger. Michael tells him, “ **You should have stayed home. If I needed witches to save me, Gabriel could have contacted them.** ”

Adam exhales and places a trembling hand on Michael’s skin. It’s soft at the moment, and bruised from the sand. “How could I stay at home while you were getting yourself in trouble on my behalf?”

“ **It wasn’t on your behalf,** ” Michael says, puzzled. The witches are gathering, seating themselves in a clustered circle in the small room, centred around Rowena. The two of them fall silent, watching.

“We will begin this meeting of the Informal Alliance of Forest Witches,” Rowena announces to the room. “As I’m sure everyone is aware by now, the Sea-Devil has taken possession of two souls from Lawrence, one of which was supposed to be sacrificed to Him-of-the-Forests.” She nods in Michael, who casts his gaze to the ceiling. “Witch Kate-” She nods to the blonde witch, sitting near the centre of the circle, that was helping Michael earlier. “Has requested our assistance in the matter, as Him-of-the-Forests will destroy the village without the sacrifice. Or, apparently, go commit suicide by way of Sea-Devil first.” There is annoyed muttering amongst the witches at this. Michael ignores them.

“It seems the situation is this: Sam and Dean Winchester of Lawrence were to be sacrificed 6 eves ago. That night, they went to Sea-Devil. It seems the village had decided to let their half-brother be sacrificed instead, and they were hoping to save all three.”

“You let them sacrifice a third party?” a cranky old witch barks in surprise at Kate. “Surely you knew the Forest Lord wouldn’t accept that?”

Some witches, evidently already in the know, sigh and shake their heads as Kate responds quietly, “I didn’t ‘let’ them sacrifice my son, no. We were overpowered.” The old witch hesitates before ducking his head in shame.

“It’s irrelevant,” Rowena declares. “Sea-Devil suggested Sam and Dean sell him their souls in exchange for him protecting their village. They refused; but it seems Sam was the smarter brother. Dean went behind his back and sold Sea-Devil his soul in exchange for protecting Sam in particular.”

There’s disgusted tching from the crowd at this. “Really!” a young woman exclaims quite loudly, before being shushed.

“Him-of-the-Forests is requiring the sacrifice to be performed tomorrow night,” Rowena continues. “We need one or both of them back in that time. It may be easier to get Sam back, since Dean’s soul itself is under contract. So we need to think of a way to get those boys back from Sea-Devil.”

The witches begin brainstorming. Michael listens, bored. As his strength rebuilds, he begins growing flowers on the wall for fun. He picks them into a bunch and hands them to Adam, who blinks at him but takes them. They’re not as pretty as Adam, but they are a sweet accessory.

He can hear the witches discussing ridiculous ideas like persuading Lucifer, or sneaking into his territory to rescue Sam, or making new deals with him and somehow tricking him. Michael cannot believe his ears. They lecture him for confronting Lucifer and yet they have the ego to think they can outsmart him themselves?

A witch says, “If Sea-Devil was not even willing to listen to the Forest-King, we would have to offer him quite a lot to work this out.”

“ **That’s because you have it backwards,** ” Michael says, and the room falls silent. He perhaps shouldn’t have said it so loudly. Nevertheless, he continues: “ **Lucifer-of-the-Seas is not doing this because he wanted to take two captives, despite incurring my anger. He took two captives because he wanted to incur my anger.** ”

“Why? You guys have some beef?” says a redheaded young witch, chewing on something.

“ **What is beef?** ” Michael wonders. “ **He hates me, and wanted to annoy me. He is a weasel, and decided to use mortals as pawns rather than attack me directly. That’s all this is.** ” He sits up, frowning, and looks around the room. They’re staring in wonder. He supposes most of them hasn’t really encountered a god before.

“Why does he hate you?” Kate asks, nervously. “With all due respect. If we can resolve this –”

Michael smiles thinly. “ **We are brothers. And when our Father ascended, I was given the forests, while he was sent out to sea. I’m not sure that can be resolved. But do not worry about your village, Miss Milligan. I will forgive the debt.** ” Adam actually grips his arm in shock.

“You will?” Kate asks, dubious yet hopeful. “My lord –”

“ **Lucifer has interfered in our business. The debt cannot be repaid now. I must be just in my dealings. It would not be fair to punish your village because my brother is trying to play a game with me.** ” Michael politely doesn’t mention that had the village paid the debt correctly on the initial night, neither of the Winchesters would be with Lucifer right now. After all, Kate Milligan clearly wasn’t responsible for that.

“ **Witches have always been friends of the forests, and you have proved it tonight,** ” Michael adds, graciously. “ **I will remember this. As you say, I likely would have died at Lucifer-of-the-Seas’ hands. But I must return to the Heartwood. Good night.** ” He scoops up Adam and slings him over his shoulder, the human yelling out in surprise.

“Thank you,” Kate says, “But –” Michael is already exiting the cottage. She rushes after them, calling out, and Michael pauses on the path outside the cottage.

“ **Yes?** ”

“My lord,” Kate says, panting. “You’re – you’re still taking my son?”

“ **Yes,** ” says Michael. “ **Adam is mine.** ”

She pulls her fingers through her hair, in a stressed motion similar to the one Adam had done only half an hour ago. “But –”

“Mom,” Adam says, wriggling around on Michael’s shoulder, trying to turn around and look at her. Michael holds onto him firmly. “My soul belongs to Michael. It’s the law of the forest. You gotta let me go. Sorry.”

“No, no,” Kate says, shaking her head. She’s looking Michael in the eye. “There has to be something…”

“Mom, please,” Adam pleads. She bites her lip. “I’ve been with him for a week. I know you’re not gonna convince him on this. Please don’t make this any more difficult then it has to be.”

They are both crying now. “ **Is that all?** ” Michael asks, puzzled. He had thought she must have something urgent to ask him.

“Michael,” Adam says. “Can you let me down? I need to hug her.”

“ **You are a flight risk,** ” Michael says, frowning.

“I won’t run. Besides, we’re in the forest and you’re right next to me. How could I?” Adam reasons. Michael must agree with that. He places Adam next to his mother and watches them carefully.

They grab onto other desperately, hugging each other close. Adam whispers into his mother’s ear, “I’m gonna be okay. I live in a palace made of trees now. It’s pretty sweet.” Kate chokes out a laugh-sob. “I’m not – I’m not gonna be able to come back. Promise me you’ll be okay.”

She shakes her head into his neck. “Mom, promise me. C’mon.”

“You’re my baby,” she says, softly. She kisses him on the ear. “Be good, okay?”

“Always,” Adam promises. They separate reluctantly. Adam glances around at Michael, who picks him back up.

“ **If anyone from your village breaks forest law again,** ” Michael tells her, “ **I expect the sacrifice to be performed properly.** ” She nods, but Michael does not think she is really listening. She is still crying.

“Michael, leave her alone. Let’s go,” Adam tells him.

They return to the Heartwood. Michael slinks through the woods, feeling the eyes of the forestfolk upon him. He knows they already know about his humiliating defeat at Lucifer’s hand and subsequent rescue by human witches. Forestfolk like to gossip. He holds Adam tight as he ashamedly makes his way to the Palace. Both of his advisors are at the entrance to greet him, desperate relief on both their faces, but Michael brushes past them without a word. He puts Adam down once they reach the Sanctum and goes to hide in a corner.


	8. Chapter 8

Michael doesn’t move for four days.

Adam occasionally comes up to him, asking about him in a worried tone. Michael wonders why he cares, and doesn’t answer. He’s made it clear he’s an unwilling prisoner here. He leaves the Sanctum every so often; Michael won’t force him to be trapped in with an idiot like Michael. He keeps him in the Palace, but Adam doesn’t try to leave, anyway.

Raphael and Gabriel come by frequently to try to talk to him, but he doesn’t let them into the Sanctum. They talk in hushed tones to Adam, but Michael doesn’t listen. They’re probably just talking about how stupid he is. How much better it would be if Lucifer were ruling the forest.

Adam comes and sits on his lap one day. “Hey, good news,” he says, bouncing.

“ **Hmm?** ” Michael says, caught by surprise.

“It’s our ten-day anniversary,” he says, smiling.

“ **Aren’t anniversaries… yearly?** ” Michael is confused. It’s in the word, surely. Adam perks up when he gets a response from the god.

“Nope! So ours is today,” he says. “You’ve owned my soul for ten days. Congratulations!”

Michael tilts his head in consideration. “ **It is a beautiful soul,** ” he admits.

“You keep saying that,” Adam says. “I might start believing it, if you’re not careful.”

“ **It’s true.** ”

Adam ducks his head in embarrassment. “So, umm… you want to take a bath?”

Michael glances at the waterfall bath he built for Adam. “ **That won’t do much for me.** ”

“I meant in your big fancy bathtub.”

“ **Oh.** ” But the bath room was outside the Sanctum. “ **No, I can’t risk it.** ”

“Risk what?”

“ **Being seen,** ” Michael says. His skin turns to softwood underneath Adam’s gently rubbing fingers. “ **I’m a failure. People will laugh at me.** ”

“So?” Adam says carelessly. Michael blinks at him. “What do you care? You can just eat them, right?”

Michael frowns at him. “ **I can’t eat all my problems.** ”

“Great. So, let’s go take a bath.”

Michael is not sure how this is happening, but Adam is gently taking his hand and leading him out the Sanctum, to the bath room nearby. “See? We made it.”

“ **Mmm,** ” Michael agrees, confused. Why is Adam taking care of him? It’s supposed to be the other way around. He stares at the tiny human.

“In the tub, come on,” Adam prompts. He walks over to the bath and puts a finger in. “Nice and – ow! Uh, boiling hot?” He yanks his finger out and stares at it in horror as the tip rapidly melts off. Michael rushes over and grips Adam’s hand, removing the holy oil and sending healing magic through Adam’s hand to restore the lost finger.

“ **Careful,** ” Michael scolds. “ **Why are you acting like this?** ”

“I’m just trying to be helpful,” Adam says, sulkily. “Why is your bath so hot? What the hell?”

“ **It’s not intended for human use,** ” Michael points out. “ **The temperature is just my preference, however.** ” Well, he’s already here. He climbs in the tub, and Adam sits on the rim of the tub. Michael lifts him and puts him beside the tub instead.

“ **If you fall in, I could lose you forever,** ” he warns.

Adam’s eyes widen. “Oh.”

Michael relaxes in the bath, allowing the holy oil to soak through his essence and cleanse it. It has been a while since he’s taken one, he thinks.

“So, umm,” Adam says.

Michael, eyes closed, says, “ **Yes?** ”

“I’m staying here, so I guess I should learn more about you. Right?” Adam doesn’t sound entirely sure of what he’s saying. “You have a brother, right? The Sea-Devil? Do you have parents, as well?”

Oh? Adam wants to learn about Michael. Excitement creeps through the fog of depression that has been covering his mind for the last few days. Their relationship is developing. Perhaps Adam will agree to be his consort soon.

“ **I have a Father, yes,** ” Michael tells him. “ **He was Lord-of-the-Forests before I.** ”

“Oh… cool. Um, so he’s dead?”

“ **No, he ascended. He’s now Ruler-of-the-Skies.** ”

“Oh, okay. You don’t have a mom?”

“ **No,** ” Michael says. “ **It would be nice to have one, I think. You and your mother seemed close.** ”

Adam tenses. “Yeah, we are. So you’re not close with your dad?”

Perhaps Michael shouldn’t have broached this topic. “ **Not at present. We haven’t spoken since his ascension.** ”

“So he became some kind of super-god and now he’s too cool to talk to you? Does he talk to Sea-Devil?”

Michael chuckles at the description, despite his discomfort. “ **Not to my knowledge.** ” Father had been angry with Lucifer in addition to Michael when he had left, although Michael would not be surprised if they had made up first.

“Umm,” Adam says. “So, he ran this place before he left? What did you do back then?”

“ **I was a child,** ” Michael says simply. “ **I grew up.** ”

“Has anyone ever told you you bear a striking resemblance to a brick wall?” Adam mutters. Michael isn’t sure what this means, so he doesn’t respond.

Back in the Sanctum, Michael thanks him. “For what?”

“ **I was acting oddly. You assisted me. So, thank you.** ”

“Uh, yeah,” Adam says, rubbing his head with a strange bashfulness.

“ **I will get you some food,** ” Michael promises. “ **You must be hungry.** ” He is positive humans don’t usually go four days without consuming something.

“Um, the Trickster has been getting me food,” Adam says. Michael frowns. “But I haven’t eaten today, so I wouldn’t mind,” Adam adds quickly. “Uh, just berries and stuff is fine. You don’t need to hunt anything.”

Michael beams. He exits the room, but Adam is close behind. “ **Where are you going?** ” he wonders.

“I’m coming with you,” Adam says. At Michael’s hesitation, he adds, “Don’t you want to spend time together?”

“ **Oh,”** says Michael. “ **Of course I do. Well, you must stay close.** ”

Adam slips his arm through Michael’s. “Sure.”

They pass by Court on their way out of the Palace. Raphael is inside, talking to petitioners. She glances at Michael and hurries to speak with him.

“ _Michael? Are you feeling well?_ ” she asks.

“ **Yes,** ” says Michael. “ **I am just going to get some food for my human.** ”

“ _For Adam?_ ” she says, looking at the young man. “ _I’m sure Gabriel wouldn’t mind –_ ”

“ **I am doing it,** ” says Michael. She purses her lips.

“ _Will you be holding Court today? People are talking,_ ” she tells him.

Michael doesn’t want to hold Court for that exact reason, but he has a responsibility to his people. And dear Raphael is looking stressed out of her mind. “ **I will,** ” he says, and she releases the tiniest amount of tension. “ **This evening, I suppose.** ” The sun was already past the half-way point in the sky. “ **You may let people know.** ”

“ _Thank you, Michael,_ ” she says, but it sounds more irritated than grateful. She heads back inside Court, and Adam and Michael proceed out the Palace.

“She and you are pretty close, huh?” Adam asks. “She’s worried about you.”

“ **I am not sure that is a correct assessment of the situation,** ” Michael says dubiously. He recalls Adam wanted to know more about his past. “ **She was an advisor back even in Father’s rule. He trusted her, so I trust her. But she can be terse.** ”

“Reminds me of someone else I know,” Adam says, with a tone of amusement.

“ **Really? Who?** ”

“Oh, Michael…”

Michael takes them on a more secluded path through the Heartwood, with plenty of safe fruit along the route. He doesn’t want to run into anyone, and it’ll be safer for Adam if he goes out on his own to gather fruit. Once he stops being a run-away.

“I haven’t run away this whole time, you know,” Adam points out. Michael just hums non-committally. It is true, he supposes. He is glad. Adam is proving to be good company. He will be an excellent consort, when he agrees.

Adam keeps asking him questions about his family and growing up. Michael is flattered by his interest. He’s not used to the attention, so it’s difficult to find the words. But Adam is patient, and listens keenly to every word coming out of Michael’s mouth.

After lunch, Michael shows him his Father’s flower garden, in a different corner of the ground floor. “ **Father and Lucifer both enjoyed gardening. It is pretty, isn’t it? I don’t have an eye for such things, so I try to keep it the same,** ” Michael explains.

“It’s nice, yeah,” Adam says. “So you don’t like gardening? That’s kinda weird.”

“ **When I was a child, no. I preferred hunting,** ” Michael admits. “ **As lord, I must be master of both, of course.** ”

“Hunting, I see,” Adam grins. “That does suit you better.” Michael cocks his head and smiles back at him.

He shows him the library, as well. They had passed by it on their tour, but not really explored it. “ **We did lessons here,** ” he says. “ **Reading and writing. I’m not a fan of writing, but reading is okay.** ”

“I like reading too,” Adam says, looking around the books with interest. “Wow, you have a lot here. Didn’t think a forest god would have such a big library.”

“ **Father said it was important to keep up with humans,** ” Michael said. “ **Gabriel goes out to human cities and acquires new ones regularly.** ”

“Oh, so these are human books,” Adam says.

“ **Naturally,** ” says Michael.

“So nothing your dad wrote?” Adam presses. Michael is puzzled. This is an odd question, he thinks.

“ **Father is not an author,** ” he says. “ **He is a god.** ”

“I thought maybe he wrote like, magical advice or something to help you out. Since you were his kid and everything.”

“ **Ah. He did write something like that,** ” Michael allows.

“Aha.”

“ **It’s not in the library, though. I keep it in my office.** ”

“That makes sense. What’s it called?”

“ **The Good book,** ” Michael says. “ **It’s a list of rules of things that are acceptable and not acceptable.** ” Adam’s face falls, for some reason.

“Just rules?”

“ **For the most part. I referred to it quite often when I was a newer ruler. Now, of course, I know all the rules off by heart.** ”

“Yeah,” says Adam, his eyes flicking away, back to the bookcases. “Makes sense.”

“ **Do you have any writings of your mother?** ” Michael says, trying to join in the relationship-building.

Adam stiffens a little bit. “No. Why?”

Michael hesitates. “ **You were asking about my father. I’m sorry, was it rude to ask you?** ”

“Oh.” Adam shakes his head. “Uh, sorry, was just thinking about something else. Mom has books passed down through the family, but they’re back in Lawrence, of course.”

Ah.

“Um, so this book’s important to you, right?” Adam says. “The Good book. Well, you like rules, don’t you?”

“ **Yes. Without rules, there would be no order,** ” Michael says. Adam finally turns back to him and smiles.

“ **And you are very orderly,** ” Adam notes. Michael grows warm at the compliment, although he’s not sure if he deserves it, given his recent behaviour.

He makes sure to hold Court that night, as he promised Raphael. Raphael informs him Gabriel has requested a leave-of-absence, as he had some personal business to take care of. Michael is upset he didn’t request it with Michael personally, but he hasn’t exactly been available recently, so he allows it.

He must be a good lord from now on. He must do better.


	9. Chapter 9

Gabriel requests a private meeting with his lord. Michael gladly receives him in his office. Michael’s heart has been full of light the last few days as he spends time with his human, but Gabriel comes in tense and upset, and Michael adjusts his mood accordingly. Gabriel sits on the chair across from Michael’s desk, fidgeting; Michael beckons for him to come lie his head in Michael’s lap instead. The shapeshifter acts reluctant, but his aura grows eased as he nests in Michael, his hair being tenderly groomed.

“ _I have news, my lord,_ ” Gabriel says into Michael’s lap, voice muffled.

“ **Oh?** ” Michael was thinking this is a personal issue. Perhaps not.

“ _It’s those sacrifices from Lawrence. The Winchesters. They’ve returned to the village._ ” Michael hums. That’s certainly odd. More games from Lucifer?

“ _Dean’s soul was released from the contract, and both of them ended up in Lawrence. They don’t know what happened. No one seems to know._ ”

“ **I see. Well, it’s not really our business anymore. I have forgiven the debt, dearest. There is no need to worry.** ” He scritches Gabriel’s chin but it fails to cheer him up.

“ _Just, umm. There are rumours Ruler-of-the-Skies got involved,_ ” Gabriel says, so quietly a lesser being than Michael may well have not caught it. He freezes.

Father – but – Ruler-of-the-Skies has not intervened in earthly matters since he ascended. Lucifer has been taking advantage of so many mortals – why now –?

“ _Michael?_ ” says Gabriel, worried. He takes the hand now paralysed under his chin and rubs it gently. “ _Don’t freak out. I just thought you should know._ ” There is yet hesitation in his voice, but he does not continue.

Michael forces himself to relax. His Father’s actions are not for him to understand. And this may well just be the baseless claims of humans. Gabriel is simply doing his due diligence in reporting it to Michael. It doesn’t mean anything.

“ **Rumours are not the concern of this Court,** ” Michael manages to say. “I **f Ruler-of-the-Skies is correcting Lucifer-of-the-Seas’ crimes, then I am grateful. If he is not, he is not. Either way, it has nothing to do with me.** ”

A strange expression flickers over Gabriel’s face, but Michael currently lacks the will to read his aura or his thoughts. “ _Yes, my lord. That’s all I had to report. Thank you for seeing me._ ”

Michael’s throat is tight and his eyes are hot. This won’t do. “ **Of course, beloved,** ” he whispers.

Gabriel squeezes his hand and gives him a cheeky grin. “ _Shouldn’t you be saving the pet names for your husband?_ ”

Adam? “ **He has not yet agreed to be my consort,** ” Michael reminds him. The Messenger must have misunderstood something.

“ _Any day now,_ ” Gabriel says confidently. He stands up, still holding Michael’s hand in his. “ _Michael. I’ll let you know if there are any developments._ ”

Michael is not sure he wants to hear any developments, but he nods anyway. “ **Yes. Thank you.** ”

Gabriel gives him one last squeeze before departing.

Michael finds Adam in the flower garden. Adam has started preparing a new garden bed, with Michael’s blessing. He wants to grow some herbs in the Palace, and this seemed an ideal spot. Michael quietly comes up behind him and throws his arms around him in an embrace. Adam tenses up.

“ **Hello, dearest,** ” Michael murmurs into his ear. The human relaxes and bats him away playfully.

“Don’t sneak up on me while I’m working,” he scolds.

“ **Please be kind to me, Adam. I’m currently tender.** ”

“Currently…?” Adam mutters, his face screwed up in thought. Then he frowns and turns to Michael. “You mean you’re sad? Did something happen?”

“ **I am not sad,** ” Michael says haughtily. He does not particularly want to mention his Father to Adam. He was glad Adam had stopped asking Father-related questions after the first day, and thereafter had simply asked Michael about himself. It’s not a topic Michael is particularly eager to discuss, even with his future consort. He opts to say instead, “ **Gabriel has just informed me your brothers have somehow returned from Lucifer, with no knowledge of how. Very peculiar.** ”

“Uh, right,” Adam says, searching his face. “So you’re mad? You want to go demand one of their lives again?”

“ **No, I have forgiven that debt,** ” Michael says. “ **The timing is unfortunate, but I must honour my word. Otherwise, what right do I have to rule?** ”

Adam smiles slightly, but still seems worried. “Yeah. I wouldn’t expect anything less. You’re the most honourable guy I’ve ever met.” Michael preens at the compliment. He leans forward to kiss Adam on the forehead; he accepts it, blushing slightly.

**

Adam has been in the Heartwood for over two weeks, now; he has been adapting to the air well enough. Michael is quite pleased at how their relationship is going and takes him on what humans call a ‘date’, according to Gabriel, to one of Michael’s favourite spots in the forest. There they sit, on a island of flowers surrounded by a clear blue lagoon, fed by a babbling brook; tall redwoods surround the lagoon, ensuring their privacy.

Adam coaxed Michael into being as small as him, and now he lies with his head in the human’s lap, laughing and telling him stories about the antics he got up to as a young prince. Michael has not played this part of this position for a long time. It’s nice.

“ **Thus, instead of Father smiling proudly as I bring the skull of a giant bear to his throne, he instead finds me hiding in my room, panicking as I watch a live one giving birth to three cubs,** ” Michael finishes. Adam laughs and lies back with a contented sigh.

“You’ve always been a disaster, huh? Good to know it’s not me being a bad influence on you.”

“ **I think you’re a very good influence,** ” Michael tells him. “ **You act nobly, always.** ”

Adam pauses, looking faintly uncomfortable. “Ah, I wouldn’t say that.”

Michael beams up at him. “ **You are as humble as you are proud. But truly you are the sun shining bright on a fine summer’s day, blessing us with your light and warmth. To bask in your purity and goodness is a luxury I never dreamed of having.** ”

“Uh, yeah,” Adam says, his smile fading. Michael must have said something rude.

“ **I’m sorry,** ” he says graciously. “ **I simply mean that I love you. No offence was meant.** ”

“I’m not offended,” Adam says. He is hesitating. Michael is not sure why.

“ **If you have something to say, please say it** ,” he tells his human. He sits up and takes him in his arms. “ **There is no need for reservedness between the two of us.** ”

“I, um, yeah.” Adam is no longer making eye contact. “I did something bad.”

“ **Nonsense,** ” Michael declares. “ **Your soul is as clean as ever.** ”

Adam shakes his head. “It wasn’t… objectively bad. I had a good reason. But, I did something bad to you. You’ll be mad.”

Michael shakes his head in unconscious imitation of Adam and holds him tighter. “ **I will listen with kind ears,** ” he says. He is not sure how one could possibly be bad without being objectively bad. It is contradictory.

“Yeah. Um…” Adam takes a deep breath before spilling out a confession. “Mom’s friends, the witches? They were looking for a way to rescue my brothers from Sea-Devil. Lucifer, whatever. They wanted to contact Ruler-of-the-Skies cause he’d be able to unilaterally release Dean’s soul from the contract. So, so, I kept asking you about your dad and when you told me about your Good book, I snuck into your office and searched it for anything useful. There was something called an emergency contact spell so, so I copied it down and passed it on to my mom. I’m sorry.”

“Michael? You are mad.”

“Michael? Can you hear me?”

“Michael-of-the-Forests?”

“My lord? Are you okay?”

“ **Raphael. I thought I was talking to Adam.** ” Michael is puzzled.

“You are,” Adam says gently. His hand is very carefully rubbing up Michael’s hard and thorny back. Michael stares at him, lost. “I’m sorry, it’s just, it was the right thing to do.”

Adam’s eyes are blue, like the sparkling water of the lagoon. Michael focuses on them. It eases his panic just enough. “ **Right thing or not, dearest, my Father will execute me for this.** ” Those big blue eyes blink at him. “ **I should set my affairs in order.** ” He stands up, but Adam grabs onto him.

“Wait, what? What do you mean?”

“ **As in, I wish to leave the forests in good condition, so my successor has an easier time transitioning in.** ”

“Michael.” Now Adam is standing up, sounding both exasperated and scared. “What are you talking about? Why would your dad kill you? You’ve been telling me how benevolent and generous he is.”

“ **No,** ” Michael says in alarm. “ **Was. He was. In my youth. He’s not – he hasn’t been like that for a long time. He changed.** ” Michael is being ripped apart. Father is screaming at him. His fault. Cages of thorns and knives surround him. Lucifer is crying and yelling. It’s not fair. Father laughs as they wrestle one another to the ground. Good, he says. Kill each other. I’ll make new sons. Better ones this time. Michael is bleeding, and empty. Water is being splashed on his face. Water?

Adam is dipping his cupped hands into the lagoon water and throwing it at Michael. “ **Adam?** ” Michael croaks. The human pauses, with a tiny amount of relief.

“Michael, you’ve gotta stay with me. Please. You’ve gone all spiky…” Michael looks down at his body. It’s become sharp now, impenetrable. “Just stay with me. It’s gonna be okay.” Blood. Michael’s not bleeding, it’s Adam. The hand he was using to rub Michael’s back now has a large gash in it. Michael grasps it and forces restorative energy into the wound.

“ **Father – punish –** ”

“Just listen to me, okay? We’re gonna go walk back to the Palace. Then we’ll get you in the bath room and you can have a nice hot soak, okay?”

Palace. Yes. Safe. Michael picks up Adam and pulls the Heartwood through them until they arrive at the Sanctum.

“What –” Adam stumbles as they arrive and Michael releases him. “Uh, or we could teleport. That’s fine.”

Adam starts heading out of the room. “ **Adam, where are you going,** ” Michael says, rushing after him and holding him back.

“You’re taking a bath,” Adam says firmly. “C’mon.”

“ **No, it’s not safe,** ” Michael says. He pushes down the knowledge that Father could punish him no matter where he is to the back of his mind.

“It is safe,” Adam says. “I’ll protect you. Come.” He holds his hand out. Michael stares at it.

“ **You are Adam,** ” he says, confused. That is not quite what he meant to say, but he is not sure how to say it.

“Yeah, unfortunately. Come on already. Don’t make me whistle at you like a dog.”

Michael decides to follow him. He doesn’t want to lose his sun to the clouds.


	10. Chapter 10

“ **Lucifer was supposed to inherit the forests,** ” Michael says, soaking in the bath oils. Adam sits beside the tub, stroking the giant paw Michael has flung out beside the bath’s edge. “ **I was supposed to be given the seas, as a consolation, I suppose. Lucifer was more intelligent, more sociable. It made sense for him to take over the more populated wilds. More mortals to handle, more feyfolk to rule. The seas are full of creatures and small groups of merfolk, and only a few sailors.** ”

“Lots of hunting for you to do,” Adam notes in amusement.

“ **True. But as we entered adulthood, Lucifer became mean, vindictive. His dealings with mortals usually ended up with them suffering. He took advantage of their ignorance, of their misunderstanding, just to make them miserable. His deals were fair only in that they technically agreed to them. But his goal was malice. He was taking advantage of people to hurt them.**

“ **It broke Father’s heart. He saw Lucifer as a younger version of himself, I think. But he gradually started to realise Lucifer could not be trusted with the forests. But nor did he want me to have them, either. He started provoking us into competition against one another.** ”

“What? Why?”

“ **At first, I think he was trying to motivate my brother,”** Michael admits. “ **Make him realise the world wasn’t going to fall into his lap; he needed to work for it. And indeed, Lucifer was lazy in the beginning, and I kept winning.** ”

“But why were _you_ playing?” Adam wonders.

“ **Father told me to, so I obeyed,** ” Michael says. “ **The games were fun in the beginning; I enjoyed them. Then Lucifer finally started playing properly, and the games got harder.** ” He allows himself to be distracted by Adam investigating his claws for a few minutes, before continuing. “ **I continued to win.”**

“Oh?” Adam says. It is easier to talk when Adam is not looking directly at him. It is like Michael is thinking out loud.

“ **I am stupid in some ways, yes, but I am smart in others. Father underestimated me. The kinds of competitions he set up were ones suited for my mind. And I have always been bigger and stronger than my brother.** ” Making his recent defeat at Lucifer’s hands all the more humiliating. “ **Father got upset as his favourite kept losing. It wasn’t the lesson he intended to teach. I think he started to hate me because of it.** ”

“Because that makes more sense then just, y’know, swapping favourites or something,” Adam remarks.

“ **People don’t work like that.** ” It hurts to admit. “ **Father had been planning his ascension for millennia. To have to change the plans last minute, it was difficult for him. He…** ” Michael doesn’t want to say it. He falls quiet for a few more minutes yet. Adam is curled up in his paw, waiting patiently. “ **He took it out on us. The games became violent, cruel. He would have us play mind games on one another, tear each other to pieces. There would be harsh punishments for the loser. I began to break. I was becoming a monster. I obeyed. I kept obeying. I started to lose. That was clearly what Father wanted. He regretted my very existence. He shoved me in a cage and I couldn’t move without being torn apart. I wanted to die.** ” Michael can’t speak anymore. He is crying now. He doesn’t think he’s cried in a long time.

“I’m sorry, Michael. You didn’t deserve that,” Adam says genuinely, vehemently. Under his breath, he adds, “And I thought my family was fucked up. I guess gods take it to a whole nother level.”

“ **Father – eventually he was not emotionally invested. He was simply doing it for his own amusement. And one day he got bored, and left. He ascended.** ”

“Just like that?”

“ **Just like that. He acted as though it had always been his plan for me to take the forests. Lucifer was violently flung to the oceans, and I was abandoned here. I haven’t heard from him since.** ” Michael climbs out of the bath. The holy oil is preventing him from cuddling with Adam as he wishes. He allows the remainder of the oil to sink into his essence before pulling Adam onto his lap.

“ **With all that… I cannot imagine Father being happy about being summoned with a spell he gave me as a child,** ” Michael tells him. “ **By mortals, no less. It was for emergencies… if I was stuck in a pit, or something.** ”

“Yeah,” Adam breathes. Michael takes a close look at the mortal. He is red in the face, upset. Michael kisses him on his hair.

“ **Thank you for listening,** ” Michael tells him. “ **I have never told anyone before.** ”

“Yeah,” Adam says again. “I’ve really… fucked up, haven’t I?” Michael considers him with confusion.

“ **Father tends to be merciful to mortals, so your witch-friends are probably safe. It’s only I he will punish,** ” Michael assures him. It doesn’t seem to work.

“You mean he used to be merciful to mortals, before he went crazy,” Adam points out.

“ **I am not sure. He did end up leaving the forests to me, not Lucifer. I don’t think he’s become completely uncaring.** ”

“The dude who tortured you for the crime of being competent?”

“ **That much is conjecture on my part,** ” Michael says. “ **And he didn’t do the torturing himself.** ” A thought occurs to him. “ **Perhaps it was a test. Which I failed.** ”

“That’s the most fucked up test I’ve ever heard of,” Adam tells him plainly, then sighs. “Yeesh, now I got you defending him. Look, it doesn’t even matter. I still fucked you over, right?”

“ **Your heart was in the right place,** ” says Michael, and he crooks his head down to kiss Adam on his chest. “ **I would not consider myself ‘fucked over’ at present. How Father chooses to punish me remains to be seen.** ”

“You said he was going to kill you,” Adam says doubtfully.

“ **When I was panicking. With a clearer mind, that seems unlikely. He would have done so already. He’s probably planning a more complicated punishment.** ”

“Great.” Adam is feeling guilty. It centres in his chest and in his stomach. Michael rubs his stomach soothingly.

“ **If you have any more secrets, you can tell me now instead of in the middle of a date,** ” he says. There is perhaps a threatening undertone in his voice which he doesn’t mean to include. Adam shakes his head firmly. Michael is relieved.

“ **I can’t have a husband who goes and does things behind my back,** ” he tells him, trying to sound more gentle. “ **So I cannot forgive a second occurrence. You do understand, surely?** ”

“You… still want to court me?” Adam asks, bewildered.

“ **Most fervently,** ” says Michael. “ **You are as endlessly lovely and kind as ever. Indeed, if you desisted in sneaking around behind my back and giving people my private information, you would be the perfect consort.** ” He smiles benevolently at Adam.

“I can do that. But –”

“ **Thank you,** ” Michael says earnestly.

“- Yeah,” Adam says, ducking his head.

That night, Michael goes up to his office and finds the Good book in the drawer where it’s been discarded for centuries. He reclines in his chair and reads it once more. The first two rules have always been his favourites:

  1. _Be good._
  2. _Remember that I love you_.



The second one stings, now, but Michael tries his best to follow it regardless. He smiles at the more out-of-date and peculiar ones – he is not quite sure why Father says that tributes from gnomes in the form of eggs must number between 5-7, no more, no less, but he adheres to it rigidly regardless. Father has also included notes, tips and tricks, and strange little sentiments within the margins of the book. _Do not attempt to view matters from your subjects’ perspective_ , Father advises. _You must use your own. That is your purpose_. Michael has never understood what this note meant. He writes it down on a slip of paper to ruminate on later.

There’s a knocking at his door. It’s Adam. “ **Enter,** ” Michael commands, turning to face the door. His sweetheart comes in, looking sheepish for some reason. Michael beckons him over but he sits in the chair opposite Michael’s desk instead of Michael’s lap, to his disappointment.

“ **You’re usually asleep at this time of night,** ” he notes. “ **Would you like me to give you some melatonin?** ” Insomnia is bad for humans, Michael knows.

“No, that’s fine.” Adam rests his hands in his lap. “I wanted to tell you something.”

Oh no. Another confession? “ **Adam,** ” Michael says, disappointed. “ **Earlier was your last chance –** ”

“Not that kind of something,” Adam says quickly. Michael sits back, eased.

“So, um. You’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met,” Adam tells him. Michael’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “I thought that was because you’re a god, but I’m starting to think it’s just you. Um, sorry, I don’t really know how to say this. But, um.

“I guess I never really thought I’d meet someone that would look at me and not immediately think I’m a waste of space. Mom doesn’t count, she’s my mom. But you keep looking at me with that big honest face of yours and saying dumb stuff like my soul is beautiful and I’m a good person and blah blah blah.” Michael tries to protest that this stuff isn’t dumb, it’s true, but Adam holds up a hand to let him keep talking and he submits.

“I didn’t really know what to make of all that. I still don’t. Um. I was pretty scared of you when you first brought me here so I just told myself you were crazy. That seemed like the safest route to go. But, um, I don’t really think you’re crazy anymore. Just, maybe, more emotional than most people I’ve met.” Adam grins. “In your weird, ethereal way at least.”

“ **Thank you for thinking I’m not crazy,** ” Michael says. This will be good for the progression of their relationship, he thinks. Adam’s grin grows wider.

“Yeah. So, like, it’s hard. Cause you’re not a liar, either. I know that much. So when you say my soul is pure or pretty or whatever, I have to believe you. That you actually think I’m worthy of love. It’s strange.”

“ **You are,** ” Michael says, with absolution. “ **Why would that be strange?** ”

“Um.” Adam feels really nervous now. This would be easier if Adam were in his lap, Michael thought. He could stroke him and soothe him. He wants to take care of his human.

“In – back home, in my village, people kinda hated me.” That makes no sense. Adam is a very sweet young man. “Don’t give me that look. It’s – I was an affair baby, okay. And my mom is a witch. People made assumptions. My dad didn’t exactly leap to defend her. It was better for him if people assumed the worst about her.”

Michael is puzzled by this story. “ **Your mother seemed like a kind-hearted woman when we spoke.** ”

Adam searches his face. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

This is a simple question to answer. “ **No.** ” Adam sighs. “ **But the circumstances of your birth were beyond your control,** ” Michael adds. “ **I shall not judge you for them.** ”

“Yeah,” says Adam. “That’s why you’re weird.”

“ **Oh?** ” Adam is still tense, shoulders hunched up in a defensive position. “ **Come here,** ” Michael orders.

Adam says, “What?” but his body is already lurching out of the chair and over to Michael’s. Michael quickly pulls him into his lap, relieved at the contact.

“ **Good, good,** ” Michael murmurs.

“Michael, I’m trying to have a serious conversation here,” Adam protests, but he lays his head on Michael’s shoulder as the god starts massaging his back.

“ **By calling me weird?** ”

“No, of course not. Um, I’m just not sure how to say this. Sorry. I’m messing up and saying weird stuff.” Adam’s heart is beating fast, Michael can feel the vibrations reaching into him. “What’s – uh, why don’t you tell me what being your consort is like?”

“ **You will be my darling prince, ruling at my side,** ” Michael tells him happily. “ **In private, we will be romantic with one another.** ” Michael wishes to be romantic with Adam now, but it is not appropriate, he thinks.

“Sure, that part I get,” Adam says. “But, um, you said before I would become Fey.”

“ **Yes. Our souls will be bound together and you will share in my divine essence.** ” Michael kisses him behind the ear. “ **You will be transformed, but you will still be you. Just with the power of the forest in your veins.** ”

“Does it hurt?”

“ **No. Hmm. No physical pain, at least. It may be difficult adapting to the change, however.** ” Michael’s chest is blooming as he speaks. Adam shyly grabs a budding flower and toys with it.

“Do I become an animal, or something?”

“ **You will become Fey,** ” Michael says. Adam already understands this part, he thinks. He shakes his head and smiles.

“I mean, am I gonna grow horns? A tail?”

“ **If you wish.** ” Michael hums. Adam would look very handsome with a tail, come to think of it. “ **Your form will be more mutable than at present.** ”

“Oh. And, um, do you have any others?”

Michael blinks at him.

“Any other consorts?” Adam elucidates.

“ **No. You will be my first.** ” And only, Michael hopes.

“But – so – do you know what you’re doing?”

“ **Yes.** ” Father had instructed him on the ritual. He had taken many consorts during his rule. Michael doesn’t think about how Father typically discarded his consorts within months. He has no intention of doing the same.

“I, um,” Adam now has bunches of flowers in his hands. “I think I like you.”

Michael feels warm. “ **Thank you. No one’s ever told me that before.** ”

“So I – I think I want to accept. Consent, whatever.”

“ **Hmm?** ”

“Consent to being your consort,” Adam says quietly. “Unless you changed your mind?”

“ **I have not,** ” says Michael, but he is worried. Adam was feeling very guilty earlier. He may not be consenting with a clear mind. “ **It’s late, Adam. How about you get some rest now and tell me your decision in the morning?** ”

“But,” Adam says. He grabs onto Michael’s face; Michael grows out some longer fur for him to hold on to. “I made my decision already, so don’t you just wanna go ahead and do it?”

“ **I will not allow it,** ” Michael says. “ **You’ve had a long day, Adam. As have I. We will see how you feel in the morning.** ”

Adam grumbles, but Michael carries him back to the Sanctum and puts him to sleep. He must carry out his affairs in an orderly manner. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t.

Michael is holding Court the next morning as the sun rises. He has dealt with most of the petitioners when he senses Adam just outside the Court room, lurking in the general area but not entering. He sends Gabriel to assist him while he finishes off the stragglers. Gabriel brings the human in once the petitioners are gone and only the regular courtiers are standing around. They stare at the newcomer with interest.

Michael frowns at Gabriel. This was not his intention. But Gabriel smiles and announces with a flourish, “ _Adam Milligan, my lord._ ” The courtiers are chatting amongst themselves. Michael beckons Adam to come before him.

“ **I’m working, beloved,** ” he tells Adam.

Adam looks surprised. “O-oh, sorry. I was just gonna wait outside, but Gabriel said I should come in.” Michael turns and gives a firm look of disapproval at his Messenger, who just grins at him.

“Um,” Adam continues. “It’s morning now, so you’ll believe me when I say yes to being your consort, right?”

“ **I will,** ” Michael says.

“Awesome. Then yes. I consent. I’m yours.”


	11. Chapter 11

Michael is excited to finally take Adam as his lover. He doesn’t need much for the ritual, just gold ink and candles. He gives his Chancellor an extremely stern warning that they are not to be disturbed, no matter what, before sealing him and his Consort in the Sanctum.

Adam strips his clothes off and lies across Michael’s lap as he carefully draws the ritual symbols on his skin. _Love_. _Beauty_. _Michael’s_. “You’re not gonna tie me up again, are you?” the human asks, laughing a bit nervously.

“ **No. Why would I?** ” Michael is trying to focus on painting these symbols. Adam’s skin is already moist and slippery.

“Ahh… it’s just a joke.” Adam falls silent for a few minutes before chirping up again. “Are you gonna be that size when we – when we do it?”

“ **No,** ” Michael says. He is currently three times Adam’s size; it would make entering him difficult. “ **Killing you is not my aim.** ”

Adam laughs again. “Yeah, I hope not.”

He calls forth small stone pillars to rise from the earth in a large circle around the centre of the room; if the candles accidentally light the Sanctum on fire, that would ruin the mood, he thinks. In the circle he orders plenty of flowers to spring up, with soft, sweet-scented petals. He places Adam on the flower-bed, much bigger than the one he first built for Adam a fortnight prior. “ **Is that comfortable?** ” he asks. Adam nods.

“You said you couldn’t do pretty,” he teases. Michael tilts his head as he considers the flowers. He had really just selected them based on their softness. But if they are appealing to Adam, he won’t complain.

He summons oil to his hands and fingers Adam open with urgency. Logically, he knows he has all the time in the world to make love to his Consort, and will have eternity thereafter. In practice, Adam’s moans and gasps as he prepares him are making Michael terribly excited and it takes all the control he’s developed over millennia to continue loosening him up rather than taking a half-prepared hole. His form is all wooden now, with knots and branches sticking out everywhere. He forces his lower half, at least, to remember the beast. He thinks Adam would rather be fucked with a furry cock than a log.

Adam is chatty as Michael fucks him. Despite being pinned to the forest floor face down, he speaks like he could possibly be in charge. “That’s good Michael. Yeah. Harder. Uh – unh, that’s a good spot. Good boy. Keep going, keep going. Hard, please, Michael, please.” Michael kisses him down his back as he rams into him, not even being able to fathom finding words to say during this.

Michael comes, silently and quickly, spilling his divine essence into his new Consort. He traps Adam with his body to ensure it all enters him. Adam cries out as he feels it come in. “Michael, what – what the fuck is that – it’s _cold_ – ” Michael continues to kiss him, unable to explain – he already explained – and Adam shudders and squeezes around his cock as he comes himself.

Michael holds them there like that until his essence begins penetrating Adam spiritually instead of only physically. He can feel himself seeping into Adam’s mind, and soul, and heart; he can feel Adam’s clench of his fingers as Michael’s cool spirit mixes with his hot mortal one; he feels the unyielding terror and love coexisting in his Consort’s lovely soul.

When it is time to do so, he flips them over so Adam is lying on his chest, staring dully down into Michael’s softening face. His eyes are glazed over as he struggles with Divinity and being pulled through dimensions no mortal can interact with. Michael maintains eye contact and lays a hand over his heart; Michael must focus on finishing the construction of their soul-bond, ensuring Adam is tethered to him and not lost to the magic of the Forests. He pulls threads made of the Passion and Love hanging around in the air, and weaves a tightly-knit connection between their souls. It will grow more flexible as the bond becomes more natural over time, he hopes. Adam is going blue; Michael realises his Consort stopped breathing some time ago. He orders the body to breathe and hopes Adam isn’t too upset by his body acting on its own. The symbols on his skin are glittering in the candlelight; they help Michael to focus on his duty.

He is all through Adam now: he is so warm, do humans feel like this all the time? The blood is coursing through his body, his skin is wet, Adam is screaming for help. Michael remembers to be Michael and whispers soothingly into his Consort’s soul: _I am here, you are safe, you are loved_.

With his soul and Adam’s soul both anchored onto the bond, Michael slowly withdraws from him, physically and metaphysically. Adam finally moves on his own, his hands gripping onto Michael’s arms below him. Michael must keep looking into Adam’s eyes until he has completely come back to Earth. He lies there, gazing at his Beloved, until to Michael’s great relief, Adam blinks.

“M – **m** m **mm** mm,” he tries to speak, his voice hoarse. “Mi – **chael** , _Michael._ ” Michael pets him on the back as he regains control. “ **Forests** … Oh.” He collapses against Michael’s chest. Michael tentatively returns his breathing to him and he lies there, dragging in great bursts of air.

 _You are good_ , he says to Adam’s soul. _You are safe_.

Adam jolts a little, lifting his head to stare at Michael. “ **Voice** …” Ah, Adam can hear his divine voice. That’s a good sign. “Sounds,” he shakes his head. “Big.”

“ **Does it hurt?** ” Michael asks, worried. He may need to wait for Adam to adjust more before he speaks through their bond.

“It’s strange,” Adam says, and he certainly looks confused. “Mi **cha** el, I need…” he rasps. He points at his throat pleadingly. Michael rubs it for him.

“Water,” he manages to get out. Oh. Michael cups his hands together over his chest and pools water in them from Adam to drink from. He laps at it gratefully. When he is hydrated, he speaks again more smoothly. “Why do _you have so many_ faces?” he wonders.

Adam has seen almost all of Michael’s faces by this point. Michael does not know why he would be puzzled by it now. “ **I have always had these faces,** ” he tells him. “ **You have seen them.** ”

“You…” Adam says, dazed. He reaches out and tries to feel one of Michael’s non-present faces. “They’re always just there? But I can only see one?”

“ **There is no point having every physicality at once,** ” Michael says, but the thought admittedly amuses him. He brings his deer-head, which Adam is reaching for, into solidity while keeping his wooden face present. Adam smiles sleepily as his fingers come into contact with it.

“You have two **hea** ds, two heads,” he says. He starts crying and Michael, alarmed, returns to normal.

“ **Shh,** ” he says, sitting up and holding his Consort. “ **What’s wrong?** ”

“It’s **too lou** d in here,” Adam tells him. “ **I can’t** – I can’t think.”

Adam is raw and sensitive, exposed to new dimensions previously outside his perception. Michael knows this, and yet covers his ears for him, hoping it’ll have a psychological effect. It does help to calm him slightly, but he’s still crying.

Michael kisses him gently. He must guide his Consort carefully through this process; but for now, Michael decides to send him to sleep once more. Even unconscious, his mind will start adapting to his new state of being. When he wakes up, hopefully he finds it a little easier to handle.

He watches Adam as he sleeps, looking ever so beautiful in the bed of flowers. How quickly, how gracefully he had absorbed Michael’s essence inside himself. Michael is very fortunate, he thinks.

Adam wakes up past dusk, his eyes reflecting a light that is not present. He drowsily looks around for Michael, and smiles when he sees him. “ _Good evening, my lord,_ ” he says in a teasing tone. Michael is pleased to see he’s feeling a little better.

“Good evening, my prince,” he says, or tries to. Nothing comes out. He says it again. His voice is still empty.

“Michael?” Adam says. “Uhh, oh no. _I can’t hear you._ ” He cups his ears. “ _I can hear me talking though. It’s weird._ ”

Michael shakes his head. “My voice is gone.” Adam can’t hear this explanation, of course. He kneels in front of his Consort. “I don’t know why it’s not working.”

“ _Michael, I can’t hear you,_ ” Adam says again, frowning. Michael is confused; his voice had been working just earlier. He can speak with his true voice over their newborn soul bond, but Adam is tender still. It may cause him harm.

He reluctantly says, _My voice is silent. I do not know why_.

Adam hesitates. “ _It’s – it’s your voice? Sorry, it’s kind of hard to understand._ ”

Michael nods. Of course it is. He kisses Adam on the forehead. _Do not be afraid_ , he says. But Adam’s lip is trembling.

“ _Did – did we mess up the ritual?_ ” Adam says. “ _Do we have to undo it?_ ”

 _We cannot undo it_ , Michael tells him.

“ _I can’t understand what you’re saying._ ” He stands up. “ _Shit. What did I do to you?_ ”

Adam certainly hasn’t done anything to Michael. Indeed, if the ritual was messed up, it’s squarely on Michael’s shoulders. Perhaps he had misremembered Father’s instructions. He didn’t have anything written down to refer to, after all.

Gabriel and Raphael would be able to understand Michael’s divine voice. He will have to go find them and explain. He wants nothing more than to be alone with Adam right now, but his Consort will be too upset about his missing voice for them to enjoy each other’s company. _I must find Raphael_ , he tells Adam. He can see the Chancellor is sitting in her office at the moment.

“ _Did you say Raphael?_ ” Adam asks, and he nods. “ _Okay. Let’s go._ ”

Michael is not sure it is wise to expose Adam to the populated areas of the Palace at the moment, but Adam has already grabbed on tight to his hand. He keeps an eye on him as they climb up to the first floor, taking the path with less people around until they reach Raphael’s office. He enters without knocking, and she looks up from her desk in annoyance.

“ _My lord? Oh,_ ” she says, noticing Adam. She clearly recognises that he has become Fey. “ _Congratulations. I was not expecting you to be out so soon._ ”

 _Yes, we have an issue,_ Michael says directly to the dryad’s heart. _My physical voice is no longer working. I’m not sure why._

“ _Your voice?_ ” she says in surprise. “ _Because of the courtship? Will it come back?_ ”

 _I am not sure_ , Michael says. _I should not have lost my voice in the ritual. Father never mentioned such a side-effect._

She twitches at the mention of Ruler-of-the-Skies and stares off into the distance for a moment. “ _Indeed?_ ”

“ _Can you understand him?_ ” Adam asks, looking from her to Michael. She turns to him.

“ _Of course. You can’t? Are you not his consort?_ ”

Adam flinches. “ _I – I can a little._ ”

 _Raphael,_ Michael scolds. _Adam was human ten hours ago._

“ _I apologise,_ ” she says tightly. “ _But Michael, what are we to do?_ ”

 _I will look for solutions. In the meantime, you and the Messenger must speak for me,_ he tells her.

“ _The forestfolk won’t like that. Michael, there’s already a lot of talk – everyone knows about your encounter with Sea-Devil –_ ” 

_They may talk as much as they like, but I cannot,_ Michael says, irritated. _So this will have to do for now. Kindly let Gabriel know._

“ _Yes, my lord,_ ” she says.

Michael heads over to his own office, Adam in tow, and pulls out some sheets of paper to write on. _Adam, I am sorry about this. I am desperate to tell you how lovely you are. I will recover my voice as soon as possible_.

Adam reads it and frowns. “ _Why are you sorry? I’m the one who did this to you._ ”

Michael shakes his head and writes, _As I performed the ritual, it must have been my error. I love you._

Adam shakes his head as well but no argument comes forth. Eventually he says, “ _I’ll help_.”

Michael smiles. Voice or no voice, he is fortunate indeed.


	12. Chapter 12

It is difficult to rule the forests without a voice. Michael is managing it by staying in the Palace and making sure one or both of his advisors are always by his side, but it won’t be feasible to continue this in perpetuum. Adam stays with him always, the bond making them unwilling to be away from one another, and Michael is glad for it.

The story Gabriel announces to the public is that Michael is taking a period of silence in order to celebrate his new Consort. Michael finds the lie distasteful, but the forestfolk buy it, and eagerly cram themselves into Court to get a look at the new Prince. Adam is not shy by any means, and returns their curious stares with a gracious smile, and a small wave at the younger ones.

Adam is still very sensitive and they spend most of their time alone together in the Sanctum, or in the library, flipping through books for any information at all about the ritual Michael used. But as Michael had said, most of the books were human-written about human things, and not a great deal of help. Michael speaks to Adam’s soul, trying to help him practice understanding Michael’s true voice, but it’s slow going. Adam gets tired quickly, using his brand-new spiritual muscles, and Michael is fearful of causing him pain.

His reputation among the forestfolk is getting worse but not because he’s lost his voice; Michael, blissful in the honeymoon period of his courtship, is ruling with a much gentler hand than he usually does. Where forestfolk would be executed for their crimes, Michael is only imprisoning them. The village of Greendale starts cutting trees, trying to expand into their forest; Michael only scares them off, rather than destroying them. For some, this is a sign that Michael has become too weak to rule. They desert the forests and head to the seas, where Lucifer-of-the-Seas is as cruel and merciless as ever. For others, the quieter ones, it is a welcome change.

“ _If they’re willing to go to serve Sea-Devil because you’re slightly less bloodthirsty, they’re not really the kind of people you want in your forests anyway,_ ” Adam tells him. “ _Right?_ ”

 _I agree,_ Michael says. His Consort is so wise, he thinks.

“ _You agree?_ ” Adam says, and Michael nods. He grins.

Michael has gone seven days without a voice and it is taking a toll on him. There are so many things he would whisper to his lover but he cannot. He is as physically affectionate as ever but he needs to tell Adam how sweet and beautiful he is. He is breaking.

Adam is checking on his baby herbs growing in the Garden. Michael sits and watches him fondly; he acts with such precision and care. Michael is proud. Adam looks up at him and grins bashfully before looking back down at his work; Michael’s heart swells.

“ _So, uh,_ ” Adam says. “ _You wanna go to the library after this? Or we can just go chill in the Sanctum._ ”

 _I will do anything you wish, because I love you,_ Michael informs him.

“ _You’ll – you’ll wish?_ ” Adam says, grimacing and gripping his head.

 _I love you,_ Michael repeats. _I’ll do as you wish._

“ _You’ll do as I wish? That’s a little tempting._ ” Adam gives him an exaggerated wink.

 _I love you,_ Michael says again. Adam shakes his head.

“ _I can’t – I can’t make it out. Do you wanna write it down?_ ” He holds out the notebook he’s been carrying around these days.

 _I love you._ Michael doesn’t want to write it down. He wants Adam to hear him. _I love you._

Adam is wincing, and Michael feels horrible. He takes the notebook and scrawls it down. _I love you._ But it’s not enough. He writes it again. And again. And again. He’s crying. Soon the page is covered in the same message, but it still doesn’t say it enough. Adam is stroking his head and murmuring to him. Michael is a bad husband, and it hurts. And he’s hurting Adam. Michael is bawling loudly now. But a calm voice speaks, easily carrying over the top of him:

“Michael, that’s enough. Really. What kind of behaviour do you call this?”

Michael looks up and stares. Past Adam. At Ruler-of-the-Skies. At his Father.


	13. Chapter 13

Michael is frozen in place. Adam, crouched beside him, is peering curiously at Ruler-of-the-Skies.

“ _I’m sorry, who are you?_ ” he says.

 _Father, it’s Father,_ Michael whispers to him. Father smiles at Michael’s Consort. He is much shorter than Michael remembers, and much untidier than the god has ever known him.

“It’s Adam, isn’t it? I was a little surprised when I saw my son had a boyfriend. He’s always been the lone wolf type.” His voice is light and airy. Danger. Michael is in danger. And Adam. He pulls Adam down sharply, Adam falling to the ground in surprise.

“No need to be so rough, Michael,” his Father chides him, in an amused tone. He comes towards the two of them. “You know, I wasn’t expecting you to cry about it. It wasn’t that serious a punishment.” He touches Michael’s throat and Michael feels something enter him. His voice.

“ **Father,** ” he croaks out. Adam grips him, tight.

“Just remember not to pass out extremely powerful spells I’ve entrusted to you like candy, okay?” his Father continues. “I was surprised. I’d expect that sort of irresponsibility from Lucifer, not you.” Michael can sense anger, but it’s not coming from Father. It’s Adam, hidden deep under the surface, but Michael can sense it through their bond, he realises. Adam is staring blank-faced at Father.

Punishment. The loss of his voice was a punishment from Father. Michael didn’t mess up the ritual. He can talk to Adam again. Relief floods through him, though not enough to overcome the terror paralysing his body. He manages to say, “ **Yes, Father. I apologise.** ”

“It was pretty funny the first few days, though, wasn’t it? I was worried it was going to be boring when you just spoke through the advisors, but the way they kept paraphrasing you made up for it. Your face.” He chuckles and shakes his head.

Boring? Michael doesn’t understand.

“ _Please leave._ ”

What? It’s Adam, but now he’s not making sense either. Michael looks at his Beloved, who’s staring down Father with a hard expression on his face. Father squints at Adam, still smiling.

“What?”

“ _Please leave,_ ” Adam repeats. His voice is flat and blunt.

“Well, I don’t think I will,” his Father says, perplexed. “Now where was I? Oh yes. Michael, you should be grateful to your advisors. I only lifted the punishment so soon because they kept praying at me, begging me to forgive you. They caught on pretty quickly that it was me, after all. Unlike you. Figuring things out was never quite your strength, was it?”

“ _Please leave,_ ” Adam says.

Father rules everything under the sun. Adam cannot tell him to leave. He has no right. But Michael will not challenge his Consort. He is unable to move, caught between his Father and his Love.

“If you have something to say to me, then say it,” Father tells Adam. Adam doesn’t respond. “No? Fine.” He focuses on Michael again. “You’d be lost without them solving every single problem for you, wouldn’t you? Some lord you are. You sit on your throne and let Raphael and Gabriel rule your territory for you. No wonder no one has any respect for you.”

Oh. Is that true? Adam’s grip on his arm grows even tighter. “ _Please leave,_ ” he says.

“Is this the best you can do for a consort, Michael? This boring little ant? Be honest, you know he’s beneath you. You just like his pretty face.”

That’s certainly not true. Michael is baffled. Why is Ruler-of-the-Skies saying all of this? He should say No. He doesn’t want Adam to think Michael is so disdainful of him.

 _Don’t._ Michael is surprised at the tiny voice travelling across their bond. Adam?

“ _Please leave._ ”

“Your mind is failing. That much is clear. The forests are horribly mismanaged, aren’t they? Perhaps I should give Lucifer command of them. He’s doing an excellent job with the seas, isn’t he? Even when you go and bother him by trying and attacking him. On his own turf. Really, Michael!” Father throws his hands up. He still has that unchanging amused smile on his face, which is growing creepier by the minute.

“ _Please leave._ ”

“Should I kill him?” Father suggests, nodding at Adam. Adam squeezes Michael once more. He does not understand what is going on, but he thinks Adam wants him to stay where he is. “He’s quite annoying, isn’t he? You must regret rushing into a courtship so quickly. He clings to you no matter where you go, I’ve noticed.”

Michael likes the clinging. He is also clingy.

“ _Please leave._ ”

“Well. I can see where I’m not wanted.” The smile drops off Father’s face in an instant, his voice becoming cold. “Is this how you intend to treat me, Michael? Your kind and loving Father? After everything I’ve done for you?”

Michael can’t respond. He can’t.

“I see you haven’t changed at all. At the end of the day, you will always be a disappointment.” He leaves.

Adam turns around and sits on Michael’s lap. Michael automatically holds on to him, but he is lost. “ **What was that about?** ” he wonders. “ **Father was here. But.** ”

“ _Are you okay?_ ” Adam says, searching Michael’s face worriedly. “ _You froze up._ ”

“ **Father was here,** ” Michael explains. He hasn’t seen his Father in a millennium. He was acting so strangely.

“ _Yeah, I know._ ” Adam pulls him in for a hug. “ _It’s okay. I’m here to protect you._ ” Protect him from what?

They cuddle for a bit. “ **Do you think I’m a disappointment?** ” Michael asks.

“ _No, of course not._ ” Adam is so sincere. Michael loves him. He realises he can finally say it.

“ **I love you,** ” he says. Adam grins, but his face quickly grows serious.

“ _Michael, your dad… you know he didn’t mean any of that stuff, right?_ ” Adam says.

“ **Of course he meant it. Why else would he say it?** ”

“ _Because he’s not a good person. I think he was just trying to provoke a reaction out of you. So he was just saying the most hurtful things he could think of. He didn’t believe any of it._ ”

Michael doesn’t want to believe that his own Father would be so heartless. It’s much easier to think that that’s what Father really thinks of him. He shakes his head wordlessly.

“ _I don’t think he’s cruel, exactly. I mean, he did intervene when you started to cry._ ” Adam smiles lopsidedly at Michael. “ _I guess he was hoping for a less uncomfortable reaction_.”

“ **It is true that Father was acting oddly. I hope when we next meet with him, his mental health has improved,** ” Michael decides. Adam gives him a slow nod of disbelief.

“ _Let’s just go tell Raph that your voice is back. She’ll be thrilled, I bet. Maybe she’ll even crack a smile,_ ” Adam suggests.

“ **I find that unlikely,** ” Michael says, thinking. “ **She will probably say, ‘It’s about time!’ then storm off angrily.** ”

“ _Probably isn’t definitely,_ ” Adam says. He tugs on Michael’s arm. “ _Come on, up. We’ve got work to do, my lord._ ”

“ **As you wish, Adam-of-the-Forests** ,” Michael says obediently. His Consort goes red at the title. “ **I am your willing servant.** ” Adam is trying to cheer him up. That, in itself, has cheered him up.

“ _Yeah, yeah,_ ” Adam says, trying to recover steam. “ _Well, you can serve me later._ _In private_.”

“ **I certainly will,** ” Michael says. Nothing could make him happier.


	14. Chapter 14

They walk through the forest outside Lawrence. It’s been a long time since he’s been in this place, Adam thinks. Decades. The night he was sacrificed. They forced him from his home, tied him up and scrawled symbols stolen from his mom all over his body before leaving him naked and bound in the forest. They were probably happy to do it. To get rid of the witch’s bastard son.

Michael is looking around, inspecting the forest, probably. He is always pre-occupied with his work. It’s cute, most of the time, until your husband leaves you halfway to an orgasm to go resolve a dispute between a couple of fairies. _That was one time_ , Michael says, hurt. Adam rolls his eyes. Once is bad enough.

Adam is hoping there aren’t too many people at the funeral. Everyone in the village always hated him, no matter what he did. But they hated Mom, too, so they probably won’t turn up, right?

 _Stop fiddling with your clothes_ , he tells Michael. Michael stops in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt. He is looking the most human Adam’s ever seen him, and Adam even got him to wear clothes. A once-in-a-lifetime event. If he can keep wearing them long enough to last through the funeral, it’ll be a true miracle. When Forest King had first approached him in the dark on the night of the sacrifice, Adam had confused the fur covering his skin as some inelegant clothing. He’d been pretty startled when Michael had come up close enough for him to realise it was just his own fur.

 _Can I wear fur to the funeral_? Michael asks hopefully.

 _No_. Adam must be firm with him or he’ll just do as he pleases.

They’re coming to the edge of the forest now. Adam’s chest is getting heavy. What if they don’t let him attend the funeral? He stops, and turns to Michael, who paused before him.

Michael is looking down at Adam’s feet, amused. Adam glances down and realises he’s got fucking deer hooves out. “Shit,” he mutters. Luckily, he brought a backpack full of spare clothes in case Michael ‘lost’ any. He turns his feet into human ones and puts the spare shoes on.

 _Could you not have mentioned that earlier?_ Adam says, annoyed.

 _I didn’t notice_ , Michael says innocently. He’s probably telling the truth. Michael doesn’t lie unless it’s really important. That just pisses Adam off more.

 _Let’s go. Remember to stay quiet and not shift any of your forms out_.

 _Yes, Beloved_ , Michael says. It still sends a tingle down Adam’s spine whenever Michael calls him that. He blushes like a schoolgirl.

Lawrence is remarkably the same as ever. The people have all changed, but the buildings are all exactly the same. Adam can’t see any new ones as he walks into town. People are looking at him and Michael with interest. No one new ever came to Lawrence, Adam remembers. That’s why they’d been so suspicious of Mom when she turned up.

He leads Michael to the church. Michael is looking around again, this time with curiosity. Adam knows he doesn’t go into villages very much. Mostly to destroy unlawful ones. So he doesn’t have a lot of experience in visiting them as a normal person.

 _If you wanna explore a village, not here_ , he says. _We can go to a different town._ Michael nods.

The church is quite small. There’s someone outside greeting people, to Adam’s surprise. “Hello,” he says to the couple. “There’s a funeral about to run, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” Adam says. “For Kate Milligan?” The guy is quite young. He probably wasn’t even born before Adam left.

“Oh – yes,” he says. “You knew her?” He’s examining them with interest now.

“I’m her son,” Adam says shortly. He walks into the church, Michael following close behind.

There’s a whole lot of people in the church. Adam is bewildered. They turn to look at the newcomers. Some jaws are dropped, but most people turn back to the front, clearly not recognising him. They sit in a back row, not much space elsewhere. Adam can’t believe it.

_What the hell? They hated Mom! Why are they at her funeral?_

_It’s been some time. Perhaps they changed their mind_ , Michael advises.

 _Bullshit_. Adam is seething.

There’s a young woman at the front who seems to be preparing things, and a priest. The woman is wearing witch’s robes, Adam notices. Mom’s apprentice?

“Adam?” a voice says, from Michael’s direction, but very much not Michael’s deep, ancient rumble. He turns and looks up. It’s Sam. His half-brother. Fuck. Michael is very carefully staring ahead. This was a bad fucking idea. They should have just stayed home.

Sam is looking old as shit. He’s wrinkled and grey. Only three and a bit decades have passed, right? So Sam is… 68. Well, that’s pretty old.

“Hey,” he says. “Why are you at Mom’s funeral?” That comes out much more accusatory than he would have liked.

“Kate? She was a good woman.” Sam looks confused. Adam wants to punch him.

 _I am more than happy to kill him,_ Michael says calmly, still staring straight ahead.

“You, uh, you’re looking good,” Sam adds. Adam touches his face. He didn’t really think to make himself look older. Sam hesitates when he doesn’t respond. “So the Forest King didn’t kill you? We thought…”

“The Forest King minded his own business,” Adam snaps. Sam has the nerve to look hurt and holds his hands up, wandering away in defeat.

 _No I didn’t,_ Michael says.

 _Shut up_.

When the witch is giving her eulogy, Adam realises with disappointment why people in the village turned around and started liking his mom. When Sam and Dean were returned, Kate ended up getting the credit for it. And she was the reason they got back, fair, but that was why people suddenly liked her? Because she helped out their precious Winchesters?

 _Calm_ , Michael tells him gently. _This bitterness doesn’t suit you_.

 _I’m not bitter_ , Adam retorts. _I’m angry. Listen, they don’t even mention that Mom was ostracised for the first thirty years she was living here. This is all bullshit._ Michael wraps an arm around him and pulls him in close. Adam reluctantly allows it. He’s been married to the god for three decades, and Michael still doesn’t believe Adam is spiteful in the slightest. Even though he can read his thoughts. It’s mind-boggling.

There’s a wake being held after the funeral, but Adam doesn’t go. He was expecting a ten minute funeral and then the burial, not all this pomp and circumstance. He hangs around the church graveyard, feeling strange.

“Hey,” a friendly voice says. He turns to find the witch that gave the eulogy smiling at him. “Claire,” she says, holding her hand out. Adam stares at it.

 _She wants you to shake it_ , Michael prompts. When Adam continues to not do so, Michael shakes it instead. “ **Hello, Claire,** ” he greets politely. “ **My husband is very emotional at the moment. Do forgive him.** ”

“Yeah, I understand,” says Claire. Her eyes flick to Michael as he speaks and rapidly back off him. She’s scared.

 _She is a witch. She can sense my power_ , Michael explains. _And yours_ , he adds graciously.

“You’re Adam, right?” she asks. “Kate said you would come. To the funeral.”

“She did?” Adam can’t believe that. How would Mom know? He hadn’t contacted her in all these years. It would be easier on her that way, he thought. If she could pretend he was dead.

“She started having visions in her older years,” Claire explains. “Happens to a lot of witches, apparently. They looked pretty painful. Hope they don’t happen to me.”

 _They will_ , Michael tells him privately. _She has the gift._

“Oh,” Adam says. He doesn’t know what else to say.

“She had some stuff to give you,” Claire says. “Back at the cottage, if you want to come?”

“You’re not going to the wake?”

“Nah, it’s stupid. These people only want to celebrate her after she’s gone. They could have held a birthday party or something while she was alive.” Claire rolls her eyes. Adam can’t help but smile.

“Mom didn’t really like birthday parties though,” Adam says. “She complained when I just baked her a cake.”

“It made her happy though,” Claire tells him. “She complained, but she was always secretly happy. Did the same thing to me.”

They follow her to Mom’s old cottage, by the lakeside. Claire’s cottage now, Adam guesses. “ **This is a nice view,** ” Michael remarks, staring out at the lake. His face is perfectly neutral. Adam figures he’s probably thinking about Lucifer again.

 _Sea-Devil’s not there. He doesn’t do lakes_ , Adam reminds him.

 _I don’t ‘do’ villages, and here I am,_ Michael shoots back.

They enter the cottage. It’s a lot tidier than Adam’s ever seen it. Despite Claire’s appearance, she must be quite a neat girl.

“Here,” says Claire, picking up a stack of leather-bound books from a low table. “She wanted you to have these.”

 _Books?_ Michael asks.

“Are those journals?” Adam says, coming over to look at them. “But – I can’t take these. The next witch should have them to refer back to.”

Claire shrugs. “It’s your call. I can do without. She wanted you to take them.”

Adam hesitates. It’s not the proper way of doing things. The witch’s apprentice inherits the old witch’s journals. That’s the way it always is.

 _Which is the oldest one_? Michael asks. It’s at the bottom of the pile. Adam takes it out.

“ **We should just take that one,** ” Michael says. “ **As the oldest journal, it will have the least useful content for Claire, and the most sentimental content for you.** ”

“Uh, do you think so?” Adam says. Claire once more refuses to look at Michael’s face for more than a couple of seconds.

“ **If you disagree, you may select another one. But it was your mother’s wish for you to take her journals. You should at least have one**.” Adam can sense Michael thinking about the ‘Good book’ his dad had left for him, how it helped him feel a connection to his father despite their separation. He sighs.

“Sure, that’s fine with me. That’s okay, isn’t it, Claire?” Adam asks.

She nods. “Like I said. Yeah.” Adam grins, he likes this girl. She addresses Michael cautiously, still not looking at him. “And you’re Forest King… right?”

“He’s Michael-of-the-Forests,” Adam interjects quickly. “Or Lord-of-the-Forests if you want to be formal.”

Michael smiles. “ **Witches are friends of the forests. No need to be formal.** ”

“I thought so,” Claire says quietly. “Kate didn’t say… But… It didn’t make sense otherwise. I’m not stupid.”

“Are you gonna tell people?” Adam asks. He doesn’t really want the village talking about him and Michael. He should have come in a disguise. Stupid boy.

“Nah,” Claire says. “It’s none of their business.”

Adam agrees quite wholeheartedly with that.

They return to the Heartwood. Michael’s form bursts out of his clothes the second they cross into the forest; Adam looks at the tattered remains with a grimace. _Michael, you could have changed out of those normally and not destroyed them_ , he scolds. Michael just picks him up and takes him to the Palace.

 _They should be destroyed_ , he says proudly. _What evil things_.

They head into Court and Michael dismisses all the courtiers and other forestfolk present. He releases Adam and looks at him appraisingly.

 _I’m not a piece of meat,_ Adam says, jokingly offended.

“ **I was a good boy for you, now you be a good boy for me,** ” Michael tells him, in _that_ tone of voice. Oh. “ **Now strip.** ” _Oh_.

Michael sits back in his throne, watching in amusement as his Prince struggles to get his clothes off as quickly as he possibly can. “ **See? You don’t like them either.** ”

Free and naked, Adam climbs onto the throne and his Lord’s lap, perching above Michael’s already fully erect cock. “ _This doesn’t prove much,_ ” he points out. “ _I would take off my own skin to fuck you._ ”

“ **Mmm, don’t do that,** ” Michael murmurs. “ **I like your skin.** ” He kisses it accordingly.

“ _Are you sure you want to do this on the throne?_ ” Adam wonders, looking down at the polished bones. “ _It’ll get –_ ”

“ ** _Beloved Consort._ Stop questioning me and start riding me,**” Michael orders.

Adam grins and gets to work.


End file.
